106-Year-Old Filipino Is Vogue’s Oldest Cover Model, Famed For Keeping Country’s Traditional Tattoo Practice Alive

Filipino Tattoo Artist Is Oldest Cover Star Of Vogue

106-year-old Apo Whang-Od has graced the cover of Vogue Philippines’ April issue, making her the oldest model ever to do so.

Hailing from the village of Buscalan in the Philippines, she shared her expertise in hand-tapping tattoos with Vogue.

Whang-Od is now training the next generation of masters to keep the traditional tattoo practice, known as batok, alive after she’s gone.

Filipino tattoo artist last practitioner of her generation

According to Vogue Philippines, Apo Whang-Od is the last “mambabatok” of her generation. The term refers to the tribal tradition of tattooing with a bamboo stick and thorn.

Having lived in the village of Buscalan her whole life, Whang-Od was 16 when she began learning the art at her father’s knee, tattoo anthropologist Dr Lars Krutak shared.

The first and only female “mambabatok” from that era, she would travel to far and neighbouring villages to tattoo various individuals.

Men would receive a “bikking”, a chest tattoo symbolising their status as a headhunting warrior.

Conversely, women would receive other tattoos, usually for fertility and beautification.

Unfortunately, the tradition soon died out during the United States’ occupation of the Philippines and the ban on headhunting. It was seen as savage, especially for women, with Western concepts of beauty taking root.

Traditional art rose to fame with documentary

In recent times, Dr Lars managed to bring the tradition back to the forefront again. In 2007, he was filming his Discovery Channel series, Tattoo Hunter, and met Whang-Od — nearly 90 at the time.

Gaining international fame as a result, people from all over the world now travel to visit her in person and receive one of her designs.

These days, a three-dot tattoo is the only one Whang-Od does — reportedly more painful than larger designs by her protégés.

Speaking to Vogue Philippines, Whang-Od said:

When visitors come from far away, I will give them the tatak Buscalan, tatak Kalinga for as long as my eyes can see.

The tradition is also one that Whang-Od can only pass to her blood relatives. With no children of her own, she has been training her grandnieces Elyang Wigan and Grace Palicas to be masters in the art.

“[My friends who gave tattoos] have all passed away,” she said in 2017 during an interview with CNN Travel. “But I’m not afraid that the tradition will end because [I’m training] the next tattoo masters.”

The tradition will continue as long as people keep coming to get tattoos.

Filipino tattoo artist now oldest to cover Vogue

Speaking to CNN, Vogue Philippines editor-in-chief Bea Valdes said the decision to make Whang-Od their cover model for April was unanimous.

“We felt she represented our ideals of what is beautiful about our Filipino culture,” she said. “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.”

Before her appearance, Judi Dench held the record for the oldest cover model to appear for Vogue. She graced the cover of British Vogue in 2020 at 85.

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Featured image adapted from Vogue Philippines.