A 106-year-old tattoo artist has become Vogue’s oldest-ever cover model and earned praises from celebrities around the world.
Apo Whang-Od from the Philippines is known for keeping the ancient art form of batok – a practice that involves putting a tattoo on the skin by hand using a thorn attached to bamboo dipped in natural dyes.
“Apo Maria ‘Whang-Od’ Oggay symbolizes the strength and beauty of the Filipino spirit,” Vogue PH’s caption read.
“Heralded as the last ‘mambabatok’ of her generation, she has imprinted the symbols of the Kalinga tribe—signifying strength, bravery, and beauty—on the skin of thousands of people who have made the pilgrimage to Buscalan,” the caption continued.
The magazine’s CEO Bea Valdes said having Whang-Od on the front cover was a no-brainer.
“We felt she represented our ideals of what is beautiful about our Filipino culture. We believe that the concept of beauty needs to evolve, and include diverse and inclusive faces and forms. What we hope to speak about is the beauty of humanity,” she said, according to The Guardian.
The magazine detailed that Batok tattoos are worn by men to represent bravery, and by women to show beauty.
“For men, (batok) meant being minted as a headhunting warrior. A biking, a chest tattoo with patterns hat crawled up the shoulders and down the arms, could take days to finish and would cost a large pig or several kilos of rice. Women were tattooed for different reasons, primarily for fertility and beautification,” it read.
“The tattooed elder women of Kalinga often say that when they die, they can’t take their beads and gold with them to the afterlife. They only have the markings on their body,” Vogue added.
Award-winning actress Halle Berry and supermodels Naomi Campbell and Gigi Hadid also seem to be in awe of the tattooist.
“Now THIS is real beauty,” Berry wrote.
Actor Mario Lopez, Naomi Campbell, and fashion designer Law Roach were also delighted to see Whang-Od on the magazine cover.
Hadid also reposted the cover of the magazine on her Instagram Stories.
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments section and SHARE this story with your friends and family!