Whang-od
| Whang-od Oggay | |
|---|---|
Whang-od tattooing on June 30, 2016
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| Born |
17 February 1917 Tinglayan, Kalinga, Philippines |
| Other names | Maria Oggay Alternate name spellings:
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| Occupation | Tattooist |
| Known for | The oldest tattoo artist in the Philippines Kalinga's last mambabatok |
Whang-od Oggay ([ˈɸɑŋ:ˈəd]; born 17 February 1917) is a Filipina tattoo artist from Buscalan, Tinglayan, Kalinga, Philippines. She is considered as the last mambabatok (traditional Kalinga tattooist) from the Butbut people in Buscalan Kalinga and the oldest tattoo artist in the Philippines. Her tattoo ink is composed of the mixture of charcoal and water that will be tapped into the skin through a thorn end of a calamansi or pomelo tree. She was tattooed when she was a teenager. Each of her arms took one day to be finished and her family paid bundles of rice for it. When her tattoo was completed her father killed a pig to celebrate it. This ancient technique of tattoing is called batok that dates back a thousand years before her time is relatively painful compared to other conventional techniques. She uses designs found in nature and basic geometric shapes. Due to her status as the last mambabatok, many netizens are lobbying her to be one of the National Artists of the Philippines. Instead of National Artist, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago urged her colleagues in the Philippine Senate through a resolution that Whang-od should be nominated as one of the National Living Treasures or Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan, which is equal rank to National Artist.
Whang-od has been tattooing headhunters and women of the indigenous people of Butbut in Buscalan Kalinga for more than 80 years but the Butbut warriors who used to earn tattoos through protecting villages or killing enemies no longer exist. Instead, Whang-od now applies the traditional art form to tourists visiting Buscalan. Some of her notable customers include Rhian Ramos,Drew Arellano,Liza Diño and Aiza Seguerra. There are also foreigners who are eager to have their skin tattooed by Whang-od.
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Wikipedia