LAUSR

The chronicles behind our scars command crowds and yet they remain unnoticed, blanketed by clothing or masked by a layer of skin-colored makeup. The etymology of the word scar derives from Latin’s eschara, a scab left from a burn. A scar is a mark from life’s tribulations, commemoration of a surgery, a footnote from a fall. Cicatrices, another term for scars, can also be a form of purposeful body modification, albeit significantly rarer than tattoos or piercings. While it may be difficult for most members of Western society to understand this form of body modification, for many groups the practice is a form of unification, identification, and spiritual healing.