Tattoo Art

“Pambabatok”

Whang-od Oggay also known as Maria Oggay

Born: February 17, 1917 (age 102)
Filipino tattoo artist from Buscalan, Tinglayan, Kalinga, Philippines.
Known for: Last and oldest practitioner of Kalinga tattooing.
Whang-od started her tattoo works at the age of 15. Traditionally, only men with
special tattooing ancestry were allowed to learn the art. Whang-od was an exception due
to her talent seen by her father. Every design she created has symbolic meanings
connected to it. For example, an eagle tattoo indicates that the warrior successfully killed
an enemy upon his return from a battle. She herself was tattooed when she was a teenager
and her first tattoo consists of a ladder and a python.