You’re never too old to grace the cover of Vogue, as evidenced by Apo Whang-Od, an indigenous Filipina tattoo artist who graces the April issue of the Philippine edition at the age of (wait) 106. Apo Whang-Od, from Buscalan, a remote mountainous village in Kalinga province in the northern Philippines, started tattooing at age 16. was a teenager, Vogue reports, describing how Whang-Od has passed down through the generations the ancient art of batok which involves inscribing the tattoo into the skin, using a thorn dipped in soot and natural dye (ouch). “The first and only woman mambabatok [traditional Kalinga tattooist] in his time, Whang-Od traveled to distant and nearby villages, summoned by host communities to imprint the sacred symbols of their ancestors on individuals who have crossed or are about to cross a threshold in their lives” , vogue adds. Tourists, especially Gen Z kids, flock to Buscalan for the rather tortuous traditional tattoo treatment.
