Who is Lu Pariselli and what makes her tattooing practice therapeutic?

Lu Pariselli is a tattoo artist at DreamWorx Ink in Vaughan whose work has become a form of healing for clients reclaiming their bodies after trauma, illness, or identity rejection. Her background in painting, German history, and radio combined with her own experience of being asked to leave a church because of her sexuality creates a particular capacity to hold space for people doing deep personal work.

How does tattooing help people reclaim their bodies after trauma?

Lu describes the quiet that falls over clients during a session as the magic: they are reflecting, processing, sometimes releasing something they've been holding for years. Tattooing gives people physical agency over their own skin at a moment when that agency has been taken from them by illness, abuse, or religious rejection. The permanence of the mark is part of its power.

What is the connection between Lu Pariselli's own experience and her clients' healing?

Lu and her wife were denied the ability to baptize their son by their Woodbridge church, a rejection that left her looking for affirming community. When she saw a post about a baptism at Sacred Heart in King City, she felt seen for the first time as a local queer person with children. That sense of finally belonging became the foundation for the belonging she creates in her studio.

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Faith and Flesh: An Artist Transforms Pain Into Power

By Joseph Tito • September 7, 2025

Tattoo artist working carefully in private studio

How a tattoo artist rejected by her church found healing in helping others reclaim their bodies, one needle at a time.The buzz of the tattoo machine fills the meticulous private room at DreamWorx Ink as Lu Pariselli works steadily on her client's hip, creating delicate florals where most people will never see them. Her client lies quietly, occasionally wincing, but mostly lost in thought. This is the magic Lu talks about, those moments of profound silence where healing happens."When they're quiet, that's when the magic is happening," Lu tells me, never breaking concentration from her work. "They're reflecting. It's beautiful to witness, but it's also hard because I feel what's happening. I feel it 100%."This isn't just any tattoo session. This is therapy through ink, and Lu, with her background in painting, German history, and radio, has become an unlikely healer for people reclaiming their bodies after trauma, loss, and rejection.The Connection That Started It AllOur story begins with baptism and rejection, with sacred spaces and the people they exclude. Lu and I found each other through social media after my twins' baptism at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in King City. While I was celebrating this milestone with my daughters,...