Young did her best to blend in with other, more privileged kids, even as she and her family moved around into church basements, abandoned houses, and even a shipping container, throughout her teenage years. So I kept it all a secret, as best I could.” They treat the less fortunate like shit, so I couldn’t talk to anybody about how I was living –not even my best friend. “No matter how hard you work, it is hard to break away from poverty -nobody gives you an opportunity.

Young recalls the cultural reaction to her family’s suffering with clarity: “Korea is a materialistic country,” confides Young, now owner of the marquee Diamond Tattoos shop in New York City’s glitzy Times Square.

Young’s mom, an artist herself, was consistently unable to provide and care for her children and members of their community refused to offer assistance. Using her natural talent - art - to overcome years of poverty, homelessness and abuse, and witnessing that of her mother and sister, at the hands of her father, alongside her mother and sister, Young managed to escape. A native of Seoul, Korea, Young Bae’s childhood reads like a painful chapter of “Oliver Twist”.

Black ink in brooklyn