8 Powerful Photos Showing Ex-Gang Members With And Without Their Tattoos

As we all know too well, humans have a tendency to immediately stereotype or demonize people that look different from them. If you see a heavily tattooed man or woman walking around at night, you may label them as a threat of some kind, even though a tattoo in itself isn’t dangerous. 

The topic of stereotyping based on appearance is one that photographer Steven Burton has tried to tackle with a provocative photo series called Skin Deep. Steven addressed the issue of automatic stereotyping by digitally removing tattoos from ex-gang members. The resulting images are quite stunning and leave you with a sense of how much tattoos can change the perception of an individual. 

Here is a look at Skin Deep.

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1. Here is ex-gang member Samuel Gonzalez before the digital altering done by Steven. 

Here is Samuel without his tattoos. 

On a Kickstarter page started by Steven that showcases the project, he wrote, “These images inspire personal insight from the subjects and elicit questions of how we as a society perceive and judge those with tattoos and how this stigma goes so far as to influence these former gang member’s perception of themselves.”

2. Calvin before. 

The difference without tattoos is quite shocking.