Whang-Od as National Artist: Does the 95-year-old 'mambabatok' deserve such recognition?

There's an online campaign pushing for Apo Whang-Od, known as the oldest living 'mambabatok' or tattoo artist of Kalinga, to be declared as a National Artist. She's already in her nineties but her eyes are still sharp and she does the tattooing perfectly. Okay, maybe not perfect, as the lines she creates are obviously not perfectly straight, but that's the beauty of it. It's not made by a machine, and it's purely Filipino.

Whang-Od creates tattoos with a mix of soot and water which will then be applied to the skin through a stencil and then be pierced to the skin using a stick with a thorn end. She has been visited by many local and foreign tourists in her small village in Buscalan to have her make them tattoos and has been featured on CNN and the History Channel.

The tattoos are not simply for aesthetics as they have historical and cultural significance. "If you haven't got a tattoo you aren't a true warrior,"says Whang-Od. Those who have an eagle tattooed on their chest beheaded a Japanese enemy during World War II.

Watch her video story below.

Please feel free to share this post with the hashtag #WangOdNationalArtist if you think she deserves such an honor.

Comments

The Adorable Sculptures of Yen Yen Lo

These images are from a series of wall sculptures created by Yen Yen Lo . Here you can see her intricately textured ceramic pieces, looking downright adorable. Yen Yen Lo's eye for the unique and whimsical is delightful. Apparently they are not intended for kids under 16. Fifteen-year-olds cannot be trusted with fragile stuff. Get them a Funko Pop instead.

Enigmatic Shapes and Psychedelic Patterns

To say that I love Sanagi 's work is an understatement. Looking at her art feels sort of therapeutic, and I find her drawings refreshingly intricate. They're trippy, psychedelic, and resemble something that you might see under a microscope. Not much is Googleable about Sanagi, but that's fine. There aren't many artists these days that still pull off the whole mysterious vibe, so I commend her for that. By the way... they're all hand-drawn with pen and ink.

Chaos in the Courtroom

You have to hand it to David E. Kelley. The success of Picket Fences , Ally McBeal , and Big Little Lies bought him the freedom to do whatever he wants with Presumed Innocent . The trailer looks promising, but few had high hopes for an adaptation of Scott Turow's first novel that had already spawned a Harrison Ford flick 34 years ago. Ah, 1990…the Gulf War. It was the year when I was afraid to go to birthday parties for fear that everyone would start singing Taylor Dayne's Love Will Lead You Back . 1990 was the year when I caught mumps and chickenpox. It was the year when no one was quite sure what happened between my science teacher and my classmate's dad, but they were sure happy about it. A reason to see Presumed Innocent is the amazing performances by Jake Gyllenhaal and Bill Camp. A reason not to see it is if you're already very familiar with the book and the movie. For some reason, I even had a paperback…but I'd never read it, start to finish. So here I am,

finding cain

Search This Blog