Pedro Kenson, 26, from Brasilia, Brazil, is not your typical dad.
His tattooed eyeballs, bifurcated tongue, and partially cut ears make certain of that.
But he doesn’t regret any of it although he admitted that cutting his ears was the most painful thing he has done. He said, “The most painful thing I’ve ever done was to cut my ears. I don’t regret it, if I could go back in time, I would just get even more modifications.”
Watch to find out more of his story below.
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Video credit: Rumble
His first-ever tattoo was his mother’s name, Lucia, on his right arm. At first, his mother struggled to accept her son’s unusual hobby.
She said: “In the beginning, I didn’t accept it because of prejudice but then later I started getting used to it and ended up even getting tattoos myself.”
Pedro’s wife, Vanessa, didn’t start out with any tattoos but when he got into the business as a tattoo artist, she started getting inked as well.
She said: “I didn’t have any tattoos but then he started working as a tattoo artist – I started with the name of my daughter and then I never stopped.”
Because of his looks, Pedro and his family have to face a lot of criticism from the public which is challenging since they’re raising a young daughter.
Vanessa explains referring to Pedro: “The image that people have of him, they think he’s aggressive. People ask me if I’m afraid of him, but he’s so affectionate.”
But when Pedro is out with his family, prejudice can get challenging.
He said: “I am criticized a lot, very much – people point at me, they are scared. People assume I am a drug addict or a criminal, they won’t even sit next to me on the bus.”
“People judge us a lot when we are walking on the street, they say, ‘Oh my God, the devil,’” Vanessa added.
But he’s learned not to let the criticisms get to him anymore.
He said: “Before I used to mind, I used to feel bad, I suffered. Nowadays I don’t mind, it doesn’t even bother me.”
But Pedro is not alone. His friend Wildson is the ‘father of modifications’ and he also shares the frustration of being judged for being different.
He said: “People think that everything that has horns, or everything that is unknown, is devilish, is evil must be bad.”
“Modification is something tribal, very ancient – we always want to stand out from the crowd,” Wildson explained.
Far from being an indication of bad behavior, Pedro says that tattoo art helped him overcome his drug addiction.
Holding out his two arms, Pedro explains: “Here is Jesus, and on the other side is the devil – I used to do bad things, I used to do cocaine.”
He added: “That phase was bad, I got out of that life through tattoo art.”
Now happily married and raising a daughter, Pedro said: “My family is everything, you know? My relationship with my daughter is good – I am a present father, every day by her side.”
His only wish is for his daughter to be happy and grow up safe from bad influences.
He said: “I have already gone through so many things that I don’t want my daughter to go through.”
As for Pedro, he’s just getting started although Vanessa thinks he has already reached his limit.
She said: “I’m proud of him, of how he’s dedicated himself to his work – I think he’s already reached a limit, but he still wants to do more modifications, he wants to be extreme.”
But Pedro sees what he’s doing as a means of his artistic self-expression.
He explained: “Me? I’m just a chill guy, I’m just a little shy – everything is about the art.
“I conquer everything through the art of tattooing.”
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