Apo Whang-Od, the 106-year-old tattoo artist who graces the cover of Vogue Philippines

Thousands of customers rush to be tattooed by him. He holds office not in a trendy salon in a big Western city, but in Buscalan, an isolated village in the Cordillera Mountains of the Philippines. This is where people travel from all over the world to get the ink of the oldest tattoo artist, Apo Wang-Od. mambabatok in the world. This woman, who celebrated her 106th birthday last February, is featured in the magazine’s April 2023 Special Beauty issue. fashion Philippines. The stunning cover photo reveals the artist, his skin covered in paintings, staring into the camera. She outlines a smile with red lipstick on her lips.

Symbols of ancestors

The article states that Apo Wang-Ode, also known as Maria Oggai, was 16 years old when she started her tattooing career under the guidance of her father. According to the research of American anthropologist Lars Krutak, she is the first and only woman mambabatok (traditional Kalinga tattoo artist) of his time. Before him, tattoo artists were mostly men. He explored remote and neighboring villages to stamp the sacred symbols of their ancestors on the bodies of women and men who had passed the threshold of their lives. According to tradition, these images could embody strength, courage, beauty, or even fertility. After several hundred years of colonial rule in Kalinga, Western standards of beauty have permeated the culture of the indigenous people, putting the practice at risk of extinction. batok.

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It is only in the last fifteen years that Apo Whang-Od’s clientele and reputation has expanded beyond its region, attracting the interest of thousands of curious people from around the world and among expatriate Filipinos looking to reconnect with their heritage. “To the visitors who come from afar, I will give them Tatak Buskala [et le] Tatak Kalinga as far as my eyes can see,” he says in this Butbut interview fashion Philippines.

Soot, charcoal and bamboo wood

As the author of the report describes, who participates in the privileged exhibition of one of his colleagues, the tattoo is done by hand, according to the rules of art. He explains that Whang-Od first traces the pattern using a grass stalk dipped in a mixture of soot and charcoal. In his left hand he holds a cry, a bamboo stick with an inky thorn attached to one end. He strikes it with a larger stick with his right hand, driving it into the body over a hundred times a minute until the points are visible and blood and ink flow. She then wets them with a damp cloth before going over the newly marked areas.

Transfer

As reported in the article fashion Philippines, work mambabatok can only be passed down within a lineage. The editor clarifies that Apo Wang-Od never had children of her own, but her great-niece, Grace Palikas, was chosen as her student.

Like him, new tattoo students with sticks and thorns eager to learn under the dean’s wing are now perpetuating a thousand-year-old tradition. Young generation mambabatoks mostly female, unlike Apo Whang-Od’s time, according to his subjects.

The long lines of travelers asking for a date with the centenarian and the resulting tourism boom helped boost the economy of Buscalan, now known for its “tattoo village”. Enough to encourage these new titles, the report says.