Please support our brother Kalaw Lupanghinirang Perlasngsilangan Lusbiminda in his project. hi manong /manang /kapatid can you help me to my project raise my funds in to my travel PROJECT LUSBIMINDA TRADITION AND CULTURE TATTOOING So some say, “Tattoos are more than just skin drawings.” I believe them. Though I cannot claim to be an expert myself, I truly think that there really is more to tattoos than being just plain skin modifications. Especially those linked with our culture and traditions – those that speak of colorful stories telling the lives of our indigenous brothers and sisters -- which, though once part of a rich culture, now almost forgotten. However challenging and struggling though, it is good to know that there are still genuine Filipino people passionate enough to try to revive this art form. They strive hard to share our heritage’s treasures not just to fellow Filipinos but also to those people who appreciate our culture all throughout the world. Kalaw, our handtap tattoo artist friend from Baguio, has been spending more than half of his life in helping to revive this vanishing art. His roots may be traced back from Abra, a province in the Cordillera. It was stories from his Lola – those which spoke of old villagers and valiant warriors with tattooed bodies – when he was just a boy that kindled his spirit to study this art form. His being a native gave him much interest and guided this social responsibility to embrace the essence of these traditional Filipino tattoos. Kalaw is concerned that due to foreign influence and modernization, the present generation has forgotten, if not overlooked, the cultural significance. In 2000, he started his research on indigenous tribes and tattoos, specifically those which resided along the Cordilleran region. He first did some small research using the internet where he found some photos of foreign researchers/photographers Eduardo Masferré and Thomas Dave Murray showing tattooed Cordilleran tribesmen. Since then, he has been aware that there were not much local books and publications available about traditional handtap tattoos in the country. And with a bit of disappointment, he even found it ironic that foreign researchers are more interested in studying the art than scholars of our own. In one of his trips to the market in 2003, he bumped into a rice vendor, an old lady with full sleeves handtap tattoos. He tried asking her some questions regarding the tattoos but the old lady would not cooperate. He even tried asking for a photo with her but the she refused. But being the clever person that he is, Kalaw fixed on making the old lady his “suki”. He thought then that maybe if he would constantly buy rice from her, they would eventually get acquainted and he could get some information regarding her tattoos. True enough, from constantly buying rice from the old lady, from casual chitchats to sharing of stories, they became friends. There, he found out that the she was from Bauko, Mountain Province and with a few more storytelling, Kalaw learned that tattoos from Kalinga and Mountain Province are different, and that there are still so much to know about Cordilleran tattoos. In 2005, as his interest in traditional Cordilleran tattoos grew further and his wanting to personally do and master handtap tattooing heightened, he decided to ink his own skin. Two years after, he decided to be permanently based in Baguio as it would be more convenient for his research. His first ever travel to Kalinga was in February of 2008. Together with his tattoo artist friend Nick Aresgado, they stayed in the Tabuk city . There they met some old tattooed tribesmen who were originally from Lubo Tanudan, Kalinga. One of the old “mambabatok’, Amma Bang-Giyak, was gracious enough to share them the information and stories they needed for the research. A few months after, they went all the way to Lubo Tanudan where he personally saw and experience the way of life of the surviving tattooed tribesmen. It is in Lubo Tanudan where he actually immersed himself with the culture of the tattooed men of Cordillera from firsthand stories to actual demonstrations of how traditional handtap tattoo is actually done and finally to being mentored by no less than the group of probably the oldest traditional handtap tattoo artists themselves. He considered every tribesman that he talked to a “guro” each of them teaching him much of the techniques of the art form he has long been dying to learn. To an artist like Kalaw, that was an experience of a lifetime. Since then, with the skills and experience he gathered, Kalaw has been doing traditional handtap tattoos for locals and foreigners alike. And with his expertise and profound knowledge of the tradition, he has been invited as speaker and demonstrator by some prestigious universities in the country to talk about traditional handtap tattoo. A walking canvass himself (as he had won quite a lot of awards from prestigious traditional tattoo conventions in the country with Nick as his artist), he advocates to study more of this traditional Filipino art, focusing not only up north of Luzon but this time tapping the traditional tattoo culture which are less, if not totally undocumented, in Visayas and Mindanao. He actually started gathering a few video clips and photos from the Kalinga experience as it has always been his plan to make a film and photo documentary. But due to lack of funds, the project is left unfinished. Only early this year that Kalaw decided that it is about time to finish it. Now my friends and I ask for your help to raise funds to make his full-blown traditional Filipino tattoos documentary dream come alive. He plans to travel to gather more photos, videos and other information all throughout the Philippines but he admits that he does not have enough money to use mostly for his transportation expenses (airfare, bus, jeep, tour guides, etc.). To make this happen, he now opens himself for reservations for handtap tattoo sessions. He wants that our every contribution would be something he would work hard for. He will be charging a minimum of P3,500.00 for a 1 inch x 4 inch piece. Just make sure though that once you make a reservation, you will show up on the date and will be free for the whole day as handtap tattoo takes longer than a usual tattoo session. Please note that we personally do not have monetary or any other interest in this endeavor. We just want to help him out as we believe in the genuine purpose of the effort. Kalaw promises to share the product of this project by organizing a photo exhibit and viewing of the documentary film for free. Feel free to check out his Artist Page on Facebook (Lusbiminda Handtap Tattooin ) { https://facebook/lusbimindatattooing } to get in touch with him and see his works. Or you can shoot me a personal message for inquiries. NOTED yes i understand is not very easy to trust somebody because they have money involved but i im a man and a name one word i dont want to destroy my name in the terms of money I hope you trust me i like to corporate for all Filipino people have interested in our tradition and culture my target date to travel is on march 2015 full expenses. more or less 1hundred thou up pesos because im with my camera man maraming salamat po Ps: my plan is i go first to Mindanao to interview my fellow tribesmen my priority is Mindanao because its too far for the the northern Luzon if i finished my interview in Mindanao documentation i go back to northern Luzon to continue the unfinished interview for me its very easy to struggle in northern Luzon because this is home and i live I there go back again to six provinces of Cordillera Administrative Region Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province, for my interview and photography for the tattooing yes i understand is not very easy to trust somebody because they have money involved but i im a man and a name one word i dont want to destroy my name in the’’ terms’’ money I hope you trust me if my travel is finish send you all of my video footages immediately i like to corporate for all Filipino people have interested in our tradition and culture my target date to travel is on march 2015 full expenses. more or less 1hundred thou up pesos because im with my camera man. just help any as u can po i hope you understand me
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 10:13:51 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015