Gisi (bamboo stick with perforated hole at one end)

Whang-ud

Tattooing, Body art

Date made: 2009

Tattoo accessory, Body art

2011.102.1.1

Tabuk, Lubuagan, Kalinga, North Luzon, Philippines

Bamboo, charcoal, pigment

Processes: Perforated, carved.

Length: max 210 mm

Analyn Salvador-Amores.
Field collector: Analyn Salvador-Amores. Collected 2010.

3 October 2011

The donor of the T-shirt features on the Pitt Rivers Museum's Body Arts web pages. In her documentary Kakau and Batok Talk: Tattoos from Hawaii and the Philippines at the conclusion of her fieldwork in the mountains of northern Luzon in the Philippines, anthropologist Analyn Salvador-Amore filmed an encounter with Hawaiian tattoo practitioner Keone Nunes and a Butbut tattoo practitioner Whang-ud. The conversations reveal a deep connection with traditional tattooing practices from Polynesia to the Philippines.
See: http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/bodyarts/index.php/multimedia/video/137-kakau-and-batok-talk-tattoos-from-hawaii-and-the-philippines.html to view the documentary. [FC 24/08/2011]

See Dphil Thesis 'Tapping Ink, Tattooing, Tradition and Modernity in Contemporary Kalinga Society, 2011, Analyn Salvador-Amores, p.73 "Gisi (Tattoing instruments) The main tattoo instrument is called gisi ('stick with thorn') and is hand-tapped using a pat-ik, a wooden stick. The gisi has a tiny hole near the end of the stick where the lemon thorn is inserted. Near Whang-ud's backyard are two citrus trees (Citrus limon) where she collects the lemon thorns used for tattooing. I saw scars on the tree where the thorn had been removed indicating the many thorns that Whang-ud had used for practicing and for the actual tattooing of locals and foreign visitors. The lemon thorn is covered with a protective layering that makes it sturdy for use in tatooing. Whang-ud also explained that she prefers the parakuk id lubwhan (lemon thorn) because of the strong scent that drives away the bad spirits, which can interfere with her tattooing. In the case of tattooing, it is the sight of the chara (blood) of the tattooee that attracts the ayan, and the thorn plays a role in keeping them away..." [FB 30/11/2011]

SOAS Journal article 'Batok (traditional tattoos) in diaspora: the rienvention of a globally mediated Kalinga identity', 2011, Analyn Salvador-Amores.

Not on display

http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/bodyarts/index.php/multimedia/video/137-kakau-and-batok-talk-tattoos-from-hawaii-and-the-philippines.html to view the documentary. [FC 24/08/2011]


SOAS Journal article 'Batok (traditional tattoos) in diaspora: the rienvention of a globally mediated Kalinga identity', 2011, Analyn Salvador-Amores. [FB 30/11/2011]

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