‘Fearless’ tattoo in vogue among Chennai women

‘Fearless’ is the word they chose, in different languages, in various fonts, in their own handwriting, to speak their message. Nearly 100 women have gotten inked so far, in this ambitious project initiated by two friends, Sujatha Srihari and Sandhya Chandrashekar. 

“The Fearless Tattoo Project came about as a way for women to reign in fear and regain control of their lives. This fear is gender-specific. For years, girls have been raised by families to almost live as victims, which is hugely detrimental to them as the fear is culturally inherited. This is what led us to the idea in 2014, starting off as an awareness campaign,” explained Sandhya, who is a training professional. 

Sujatha, a tattoo artist in the city decided to ink women for free – in the language of their choice as well. “The women joining the campaign have come from all ages and from different backgrounds – from young entrepreneurs to seniors; my mom was among them, and she was 68. We had women from foreign countries take the pledge as well. ‘Sans peur’ (French), ‘Acham Illai’ (Tamil) ‘Nirbhaya’ (Hindi) are just some of the languages they have gotten inked in,” she said. 

The tattoo is not compulsory to be part of the movement, but with one, they say that it will be a daily reminder of a mantra that slowly becomes part of one’s psyche. Sujatha and Sandhya are now bringing all the inked women together for a meet-up on Sunday, during which they will celebrate their four-year anniversary, exchange stories on their transformations and seek inspiration from each other. 

“After we started the project, we are also evolving as an idea. For instance, we met with women employees at a small cooperative firm in Auroville. It was an insightful conversation with this all-women team about the meaning of being fearless for a woman today. We were also invited to address the students of MCC recently. So, the Fearless Tattoo Project is definitely becoming something bigger with time,” the duo said.