Pinoy youngest traditional tattoo artist is a 13-year-old girl from Buscalan, Kalinga

Photo Courtesy || Carl Taawan

Cordillera - Did you know that the youngest traditional tattoo artist in the Philippines right now is a 13-year-old girl from Buscalan, Kalinga - the home of the legendary tattoo artist Apo Whang-od?

Princess Tacatac started learning the art of tattooing since she was 9 years old under the tutelage of the world-renowned traditional artist, Apo Whang-od. 

READ ALSO: iKalinga engineer part of NASA team setting up rocket launch site in Australia.

This week, Tacatac joined her fellow young tattoo artists who came from Buscalan, Kalinga to participate in a tattooing event held in Baguio City. 

These young iKalinga tattoo artists will be sharing their talent to anyone interested to be inked with the traditional tattoo designs of Kalinga as part of the celebration of the Indigenous People's Month.

READ ALSO: Kalinga Beauty crowned Miss Baguio City 2021

The art of tattooing called "Batok" in Kalinga uses indigenous materials like the ink, which is made from a mixture of charcoal and water. The Kalinga tattoo artists use thorn from a citrus tree attached to a bamboo stick.

Apo Whang-od was the first Kalinga tattoo artist who introduced this unique style of tattooing to the world. 

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Many tourists around the world travel and traverse a mountainous terrain to reach a remote village in Kalinga just to get a tattoo from Apo Whang-od.