At long last world-renowned master tattooist Whang-Od Oggay has received recognition for her decades-long body of work by way of a Dangal ng Haraya Award for Intangible Cultural Heritage from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
She received the award in a ceremony held in her hometown of Kalinga, for her “work as a manwhatok and her influence on the Filipino traditional arts scene leading to a heightened awareness about the culture of the Kalinga community.”
Whang-Od, 102, uses traditional tools and methods to create her tattoos. With charcoal soot and calamansi thorns, she painstakingly taps a design into skin one stroke at a time. She began practicing the craft as a teenager, creating traditional patterns for women and warriors. In recent years her fame has spread throughout the world and her village of Buscalan is now swamped with tourists from around the world hoping for a tattoo from her.
She has been teaching younger practitioners such as her great-niece, but a tattoo from the master herself is considered a supreme honor. While others at her advanced age might be expected to retire, she is still hard at work, her efforts creating business opportunities for others in her community and bringing income to her family and neighbors.
Whang-Od was nominated for the Gawad Manlilikha last year, and hopefully she will receive it soon. She certainly meets all the criteria as stated on the NCCA website. The award will be a big financial help to her as the awardee is given an initial grant of P100,000 and a P14,000 lifetime stipend per month.
She would also be entitled to a maximum cumulative amount of P750,000 in medical and hospitalization benefits as well as funeral assistance similar to those received by National Artists.
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Tattooing has a long history in our islands. William Henry Scott says in “Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society” that the Spanish colonizers called Visayan men “pintados” because of the tattoos that covered their entire bodies.
The markings were “symbols of male valor” earned in battle. “Any [tattoos] applied on one who had not killed or captured an enemy were scorned as counterfeit.” Women “only tattooed their hands, one or both, and the lines were exceedingly fine and had the appearance of damask or embroidery.”
The process was not without its risks. Because it was a painful procedure—painful enough to “serve as a test of manhood” in itself—tattooing was “performed…in installments, but even so, often caused a high fever and occasionally infection and death.”
Today tattooing in the Philippine is made popular by international trends and has lost the cultural meaning and significance it once had. Yet there is renewed interest in traditional patterns, referred to by some as “tribal,” perhaps in a bid to decolonize the practice and reclaim its ancient roots.
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Last May, the NCCA issued a call for individuals and groups to submit proposals for arts and culture projects to be awarded grants in 2019.
From the NCCA: “Through the National Endowment Fund for Culture and the Arts, the NCCA provides assistance to civil society organizations, people’s organizations, indigenous people’s organizations, individuals, local government units, government agencies, and state universities/colleges and public schools through its NCCA Grants Program and Institutional Programs such as the Outreach Program, Resource Persons and Experts Bureau Program, and the Technical Assistance Program.”
Proposals must be anchored on the NCCA vision, “Filipino culture as the wellspring of national and global well being” (Bukal ng pambansa at pandaigdigang kagalingan ang kalinangang Filipino) and aligned with the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022: Chapter 7 on Culture (Promoting Philippine Culture and Values).
The grants available are substantial and may be used for designated projects in various fields of the arts and culture such as music, dance, literary arts, historical research, and more. Grant details and proposal requirements may be found at ncca.gov.ph. Deadline for submission of proposals is July 31, 2018.
I strongly advise interested parties working in arts and culture to take advantage of these grants. It seems a lot of people might not be aware of such assistance programs. I’d like to see more participation from marginalized sectors working in crafts, students, the LGBTQ+ community, and subcultures such as horseracing and cockfighting (imagine the art they can come up with).
For authors, you may also check out the National Book Development Board (nbdb.gov.ph) which funds writing projects to completion.
Dr. Ortuoste, a writer and researcher, has a PhD in Communication. FB and Twitter: @DrJennyO