Guidol Balansi bears the Allapad, Angkeru and Ambilag tattoo markings on her hands and calves. She had the designs inked on her body while in her 20s by the Ga’dang mambabatok Lagat. As she approaches her 90th birthday, she is one of the few surviving Ga’dang women, according to the people of Paracelis, who have been marked by their tribe’s mambabatoks.

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One portrait at a time.

Project Larawan is an initiative of Gabriel “Gabby” Malvar, a documentary filmmaker, writer and photographer, whose narratives are nuanced with unique, inventive perspectives to provoke an inquisitive look at his favorite subject, the Philippines. Become a part of Filipino identity every other Saturday on the DAILY TRIBUNE.