Meet whang od. she lives in the philippines and is the last master of the art of traditional, hand-tapped filipino tattoos. whang od is 93 and her body is adorned with snakes and millipedes.. In this philippines travel vlog, i head to kalinga in northern luzon to find the tattoo artist legend apo whang od. the last mambatok, a style of traditional tattoo found only in the philippines.. The oldest tattoo artist in the world, and the first female tattoo artist in the philippines, whang-od isn’t so much an inspiration as an institution—as much a part of the butbut tribe’s culture and history as the ancient kalinga mountainside they call home..
Apo whang od was supposed to be the last traditional tattoo artist of her tribe, until she realized that she needed successors to pass on the ancient art. they say that a mambabatok can only pass the legacy to their bloodline, otherwise it would bring bad luck.. For many filipinos, getting tattooed by whang-od is a once-in-a-lifetime encounter worth including in one’s bucket list. but just as every tattoo design has an underlying meaning, whang-od the tattoo artist has an interesting story to tell. also read: 10 weird phenomena that perfectly sum up today’s filipino culture. Here, hand-tap tattoo artist whang od (pronounced with an “f”: fang od) oggay has been tattooing herself, her neighbors, and her relatives for decades. more recently, a stream of body-ink enthusiasts from all over the world have traipsed to whang od’s hilltop hut..
