Apo Whang-Od, who turned 106 in February, has been described as the “last mambabatok” and is now the oldest woman to have appeared on the cover of Vogue.
Vogue Philippines selected Whang-Od, also known as Maria Oggay, for their April issue. In an interview with CNN, the magazine’s editor-in-chief Bea Valdes said: “We felt she represented our ideals of what is beautiful about our Filipino culture.
“We believe that the concept of beauty needs to evolve, and include diverse and inclusive faces and forms. What we hope to speak about is the beauty of humanity,”
A team of Vogue journalists travelled to the small village of Buscalan to be tattooed by the renowned artist. It’s a journey that’s been made by thousands of tourists from around the world, so what makes her tattoos so important?
The last mambabatok
A mambabatok is a tattoo artist from the Kalinga tribe, an ethnic group whose ancestral domain is in the Cordillera Mountain Range of the northern Philippines.
Whang-Od has been described as the “last mambabatok” and, according to an interview conducted by tattoo anthropologist Lars Krutak, learned the art from her father when she was a teenager.
In Kalinga, “batok” refers to the art of tattooing the body with tribal designs using a bamboo stick with a thorn attached to one end dipped into a soot and charcoal mixture.
For men, tattoos were traditionally acquired after a successful headhunting expedition and were placed on their chests with patterns extending down their arms.
Tattoos were used to decorate women, with designs placed along their arms, the backs of their hands and their shoulder blades.
According to reporting by Vogue, when the American Catholic missionaries came and built schools in Kalinga, village girls were made to cover their arms with long sleeves.
Ultimately, decades of colonial administration and modernisation have led to the abandonment of Kalinga batok, with enduring fragments seen only on the bodies of Kalinga elders.
When did the world hear about Whang-Od?
It has only been within the last 15 years that Whang-Od’s renown has spread across the world, attracting thousands of visitors to her small village of Buscalan, about 15 hours north of Manila, in Kalinga province.
For non-natives, the tattoo designs are fairly removed from their ancestral contexts, and designs are selected from a limited menu offered to everyone.
Over the years debates have surfaced surrounding concerns about the commercialisation of the practice.
According to reporting by Vogue, social anthropologist Dr Analyn Salvador-Amores said, “Culture is an increasingly prized commodity, aggressively appropriated by other entities.”
“Instead of asking who owns culture, we should ask how we can promote respectful treatment of native culture and indigenous forms of self-expression within mass societies.”
Whang-Od only communicates in her native language Kalinga and Ilocano, she does not speak Tagalog, a commonly spoken Filipino language, or English.
In her interview with Lars Krutak, Whang-Od explained when she was 25, the man she was in love with died in a logging accident and instead of looking for a new husband, she dedicated her life to tattooing.
Mambabatoks can only pass on their craft within their bloodlines, and since Whang-Od never had any children of her own, she has been training her grandnieces Elyang Wigan and Grace Palicas.
In 2018 the Filipino National Commission for Culture and the Arts honoured Whang Od with the prestigious Dangal ng Haraya Award, in recognition of her efforts to preserve the ancient tradition of batok.
After more than 90 years of tattooing, Whang-Od is showing no signs of slowing down.
“I will give them the tatak Buscalan, tatak Kalinga for as long as my eyes can see.”
