‘Dutdutan’ returns to World Trade Center Metro Manila
The two-day tattoo expo on 14 to 15 October features local and international tattoo artists, as well as the country’s top music acts like Arnel Pineda, Gloc-9, and Shanti Dope
Tattooing is popular worldwide, but it's a pre-Hispanic cultural practice in the Philippines, which must be why the annual Dutdutan tattoo festival is held in October, declared by the government as Indigenous People's Month.
Dutdutan 2022 official poster on Instagram. | PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF FB/Dutdutan Tattoo Convention
The 105-year-old Whang-od Oggay, recognized as the oldest and last mambabatok (traditional Kalinga tattooist), is a member of the Butbut people of the Kalinga ethnic group. She heads a clan of adept female tattooists of varying ages.
Dutdutan is Filipino for "pricking" something with a pointed object, which is how tattooing is done. Ink is pricked into the human skin to create graphic art.
The festival began in 2000 and was regularly held at the World Trade Center Metro Manila.
The 105-year old Whang-od Oggay is the oldest and last traditional Kalinga tattooist. | PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF IG/apowangodoggay
It continued on-site at the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, though with limited access since the venues were hotels in Cebu and Bacolod.
World-renowned tattoo artists, male and female, have been joining Dutdutan, some from the US, UK and Canada.
