Done by a tattoo artist in Sibu.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Monday, August 22, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Friday, October 29, 2010
Borneo Dayak Tattoo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world. Six major, and numerous minor, navigable rivers traverse the interior and function as trade and communication routes for the indigenous peoples who live here, namely the Dayak. Dayak, meaning "interior" or "inland" person, is the term used to describe the variety of indigenous native tribes of Borneo, each of which has its own language and separate culture. Approximately three million Dayak - Ibans, Kayans, Kenyahs and others - live in Borneo. Most groups are settled cultivating rice in shifting or rain-fed fields supplementing their incomes with the sale of cash crops: ginger, pepper, cocoa, palm oil. However several hundred Penan, nomadic hunter-gatherers, continue to follow a traditional lifestyle in the jungle, one that is rapidly vanishing.
Aside from a few scattered reports of missionaries, traders, and a handful of explorers in the mid-19th century, almost nothing was known about the Dayak and their customs. To these outsiders only one thing was for certain: that the island was inhabited by "primitive" peoples who worshipped pagan gods and spirits and whose knowledge and skills made this land their home.
By 1900, however, anthropological interest in Borneo peaked and became the focus of several museum expeditions by the Dutch and British. With the many ethnological accounts that followed, some of the most interesting material that was generated focused upon the traditional tattooing practices of the Dayak. Tattooing was believed to be a sacred activity that was connected to many aspects of traditional Dayak culture, especially spirit worship and headhunting.
Among the Dayak, all life - whether animal, vegetable, or human - is endowed with a spiritual aspect. Spirits living in the jungle must always be propitiated and never offended. Recently, Vince Hemingson, who was traveling with the Iban, said that even when an individual wishes to urinate, he or she must ask the spirits for permission in order to give them an opportunity to move: "No one would ever want to pee on a invisible spirit that is sitting directly in front of them and certainly no one would ever piss on a tree, you never know whose house that tree might be [and] I certainly didn't want to pee on anyone's house." Spirits (Iban: antu), both good and bad, exercise many powers; they provide the techniques of rice cultivation, the techniques of textile weaving, and the techniques of tattooing. Spirits usually come to individuals through dreams and even tattoo artists are under the protection of a particular spirit. Dreams are believed to be revelations sent by the gods, sometimes by deified ancestors, and all Dayak are guided by them in their daily affairs.
Dayak heaven is a universe filled with the spiritual energies that charge with life-power most existing beings and things. This divine realm, removed from secular time and the laws of this world, is the abode of gods and ancestors who grant privileges to those who maintain the proper balance of life throughout all of its stages. At birth, all Dayak are endowed with the perfect gifts of nature: mind, body, and several souls. Each of these components are essential for remaining "complete" throughout life experience, since completion is necessary for one to enter the sanctity of the afterlife. According to the beliefs of the Iban, one of the souls of a person resides in their head and by taking someone else's you capture their soul as well as their status, strength, skill and power. Thus, it is not surprising that human heads, once taken and preserved, were respected in ritual; their spirits became adopted members of the group that took them and were persuaded to aid their captors in many ways.
Most Dayak, living their lives in strict accordance to the divine norms and commandments by which the gods and ancestors had lived their lives, relied upon human sacrifice to propitiate the good will of their masters. Headhunting, the ritual component, served to maintain the prosperity of the group by ensuring agricultural and community fertility. In the eyes of the gods and ancestors, the taking of fresh heads was not only pleasing - it was duly rewarded with many gifts. For example, the divine indicated locations in the forest where fields should be cleared and planted; they protected the rice fields against crop failure; they lent their diagnosis in illness; and they accompanied men in war or on the headhunt to insure success. Headhunting was therefore an institution believed to maintain balance and harmony in the Dayak cosmos and oftentimes a man's status was not established until he had proven success in headhunting itself.
The most important symbol marking participation in the headhunt was tattoo (Iban: pantang). Among the Kayan, anthropomorphic figures were tattooed onto the fingers and were known as tegulun. Although they denoted having taken a head, tegulun possibly represented a sacrifice to a helper spirit that in former times was propitiated by killing a slave upon the construction of a new longhouse. Other
tattoos covered the entire body. For example, this elder Dayak man photographed in 1896 (fig. 1 - click for larger image) possesses a style no longer seen in this era of modernity. The central tattoo motif on his chest represents the trunk of the Garing tree; adjoining it above are the two outstretched wings of the hornbill - a messenger of the Iban war god, Lang Singalang Burong. Garing trees are believed to be immortal and invulnerable while the hornbill, marking rank and prestige, is believed to provide protection against the intrusion of evil spirits living in the jungle. Interestingly, images of the hornbill (Iban: tenyalang) were oftentimes carved and propitiated with sacrifices of pigs and human heads prior to them being mounted on display poles, since the spirit of the tenyalang was believed to leave its wooden body, fly to the longhouse of an enemy, and weaken the spirit of the headhunters living there. The tattooing that appears down the arms and over the shoulders represents the leaves of the areca palm, considered as another effective weapon against malevolent spirits. In a sense, then, Dayak men of this time were covered with a visual canopy of the creatures and plants that lived within their jungle domain. However, and when combined together, tattoos performed as an indelible form of camouflage acting upon the malevolent forces encountered in the jungle - headhunters and evil spirits. In the past, it seems that tattoo was one of the primary devices for completion - holding the body and its constituent parts together in a dangerous world - and maybe this is why the Ngaju Dayak say, "the tattooed man is the perfect and sacred man, and only such may receive the perfect tattooing."
Just as a great warrior was tattooed to mark his achievements in the human hunt, women were tattooed as proof of their accomplishments in weaving, dancing or singing - as well as for protective purposes. Following ritual precautions, weavers communicated with their spirit helpers before initiating a design. It was thought that this action would prevent irritating other spirits represented in a new weaving. Textile work, a hazardous undertaking recognized by the Iban as "women's war" (kayau indu'), was both socially and ritually marked by tattoo. Among the Kayan, tattoo (tedek) was handtapped onto the fingers of women in various patterns (fig. 2), although black spikes running from the knuckles to mid-digits was a fairly common design 
(fig. 3). This motif, called song irang (shoots of bamboo), expresses a connection between plant life and fertility while the anthropomorphic designs above her wrists represent protective ancestor spirits. Floral imagery, symbolizing spiritual powers and relationships, permeates every facet of Dayak life. Plants are regarded as a major kind of living thing, sharing the same fundamental properties of life and death as humans. That is why the Iban are so meticulous with the care of their rice (padi) fields; Rice plants are believed to be the souls of ancestors and when ingested they generate physical energy which make the Iban "tough."Shamans, Sickness and the Land of the Dead
Shamans (Iban: manang) were revered individuals in the Dayak community. They possessed the gifts of prophecy and healing and were sometimes feared by the populace because of their affiliation with supernatural spirits. Shamans were not only doctors who diagnosed illnesses and prescribed remedies for the sick, but were interpreters of vast, unknown spiritual forces that controlled the weather and food supplies. Serving as liason between the supernatural and the people, the manang witnessed and communicated with several of the spiritual and mythological beings of Dayak belief. Many of these spirits, which included those of plants and famed ancestors no longer living, were captured and utilized as assistants (Iban: antu nulong).In Iban belief, some physical ills are manifestations of evil spirits (antu) that are occasionally attracted to individuals who directly reflect moral inadequacies. If the shaman fails to affect a cure, either by propitiating the antu with sacrifices, enticing it into a wooden figurine, or by barking, growling and in some cases even attempting to kill it, a name changing ceremony is then performed and the afflicted may be given a new tattoo near the wrist. The new name serves to conceal the
individual from disease-bearing spirits and the tattoo symbolically recasts the patient's body in order to correct its imperfections. This ideology is taken from Selempandai, the Iban blacksmith god who forges human beings. Thus, it is not surprising that most Iban and other Dayak tattoos are patterned after beings or plants that are associated with curative or protective powers. This Kayan woman (fig. 4), photographed in 1927, was tattooed with snake-like motifs called aso'. The design at the bottom of these vertical bands, the coil that looks similar to an abstract letter 
"A", is a tuba root pattern. Both the aso' and tuba motifs are ones which evil spirits dread and it is interesting to note that the tuba plant, when crushed, produces a poisonous juice used to stupefy fish. In mythology, the tuba was given to the Dayak by the snake deities of Panggau and this is why it is not surprising that the motif is used as a protective symbol in tattoo. Silong lejau (tiger's faces) were other important and powerful tattoo symbols used against the spirits (fig. 5). They are related to a famous Dayak story in which a shaman, clothed in a ceremonial garment with designs of crocodiles and tigers, blocked the entrance to his longhouse to scare away the evil spirits plaguing his community.Although the apotropaic aspect of Dayak tattoo has been discussed, specifically as a remedy against supernatural possession resulting in disease, tattooing was also an initiation rite involving the entire community longhouse. Tattoo operations were not carried out in the longhouse itself, rather they took place in a specially built hut among some groups. During the entire ritual, the male members of the family dressed in bark-cloth. Bark-cloth was normally placed on the corpses of village leaders at their funerals or worn by widowers. At other times, headhunters used bark-cloth during ceremonial occasions. Therefore, it seems that the association between tattoo and bark-cloth indicates that tattooed individuals pass through a communally recognized symbolic death in order to pass into a new stage of life. Not surprisingly, each Dayak community is comprised of individuals both living and dead, since those members who left this world forever now dwell in the community of the ancestors - the village of the dead. It is here, the perfect world were houses are magnificently built, the trees bear perpetual fruit, and the pathways are paved with gold and jewels, that each Dayak individual yearns to be in the afterlife.
Notwithstanding these concepts, tattoos and death were inextricably bound in other respects. When the Kayan soul left its human host, it journeyed through the murky depths of the afterlife in search of the village of the dead. Kayan souls encountered many obstacles on their supernatural flight: The River of Death the most formidable. According to tradition, only the souls of tattooed women who provided generously for their families and headhunters who possessed hand tattoos - a token of their success - were able to cross the log bridge that spanned these dangerous waters. Maligang, the malevolent guardian of the bridge, oftentimes refused such passage forcing souls to descend into the river's depths to be eaten by Patan, a giant catfish. However, if the lingering soul was properly tattooed, it was free to pass into the darkness that awaited it on the other side. Although this dim world was silent and discomforting, the soul's tattoos began to burn brightly, in turn, guiding the incorporeal spirit to its final resting place among the ancestors.
A Spiritual Artform
Dayak tattoo is a spiritual artform that merges images of humans, animals, and plants into one unit, expressing the proliferation of life and the integration of living and spiritual beings in the cosmos. Death and fertility were the primary axes around which tattoo creativity spiraled. Tattooing offered visual testimony to the refusal of Dayak individuals to accept the finality of death and assert the indestructibility of their being. By emulating the life of the gods in everyday ritual, the Dayak procured their own form of divine power that ensured the perpetuation of human life in a continuum of eternity. Therefore, tattoos were articulating symbols inscribing implicit Dayak ideologies of existence upon the living canvas of human flesh.Thursday, October 28, 2010
What You Should Know Before You Get A Tattoo Or Piercing
Before getting a tattoo or a body piercing find out what all the risks are and how to get rid of the tattoo or body piercing if you no longer want it.
A tattoo may only take a few minutes to get but it can last a lifetime. Tattoos are permanent. They are designs put on your skiing with pigments injected into the top layer of your skin with needles.
Here is how tattoos are created: A needle is connected to an apparatus with tubes which contain dye. These needles pierce the skin multiple times kind of like a sewing machine but on your skin. The needle inserts tiny drops of ink creating the tattoo. Tattoos can hurt and a large tattoo can take up to several hours to create. The tattoo may even bleed
What are the downsides of getting a tattoo?
You are piercing your skin so you may be a risk for more skin infections if you get a tattoo or piercing.
If you get a tattoo you put yourself at risk for getting blood related diseases. If the machine the tattoo artist uses you can you can get hepatitis C, hepatitis B, tetanus, tuberculosis and even HIV.
If you use red ink in your tattoos you may get a rash with bumps.
Tattoos can also lead to bacterial infections. The symptoms are redness, warmth, swelling and pus.
Again if you use red ink in your tattoo this can cause allergic reactions that can last for years.
Your tattoo will also require cleaning and maintenance. Your tattoo artist will give you instructions on how to clean and maintain your tattoo. You should apply skin care products and avoid too much exposure to the sun for your tattoo. Especially in the beginning.
Tattoos takes several days to heal. Do not pick at the tattoo. Give the tattoo time to heal properly.
What if you want to get rid of your tattoo? This is very common.
Tattoo removal is difficult and often still leaves scars and skin discolorations.
Laser surgery if the best way to get rid of a tattoo. Laser beams penetrate the top layer of the skin and the light is accepted by the tattoo. This method may demand up to 10 treatments over a period of a year and even then the tattoo might not completely disappear.
Another method of tattoo removal is called Dermabrasion. The tattoo is frozen until the skin is numb then the skin is sanded down. This method does not hurt very much but it usually leaves a scar.
You can also remove that tattoo surgically but this invariably leaves a scar.
A tattoo may only take a few minutes to get but it can last a lifetime. Tattoos are permanent. They are designs put on your skiing with pigments injected into the top layer of your skin with needles.
Here is how tattoos are created: A needle is connected to an apparatus with tubes which contain dye. These needles pierce the skin multiple times kind of like a sewing machine but on your skin. The needle inserts tiny drops of ink creating the tattoo. Tattoos can hurt and a large tattoo can take up to several hours to create. The tattoo may even bleed
What are the downsides of getting a tattoo?
You are piercing your skin so you may be a risk for more skin infections if you get a tattoo or piercing.
If you get a tattoo you put yourself at risk for getting blood related diseases. If the machine the tattoo artist uses you can you can get hepatitis C, hepatitis B, tetanus, tuberculosis and even HIV.
If you use red ink in your tattoos you may get a rash with bumps.
Tattoos can also lead to bacterial infections. The symptoms are redness, warmth, swelling and pus.
Again if you use red ink in your tattoo this can cause allergic reactions that can last for years.
Your tattoo will also require cleaning and maintenance. Your tattoo artist will give you instructions on how to clean and maintain your tattoo. You should apply skin care products and avoid too much exposure to the sun for your tattoo. Especially in the beginning.
Tattoos takes several days to heal. Do not pick at the tattoo. Give the tattoo time to heal properly.
What if you want to get rid of your tattoo? This is very common.
Tattoo removal is difficult and often still leaves scars and skin discolorations.
Laser surgery if the best way to get rid of a tattoo. Laser beams penetrate the top layer of the skin and the light is accepted by the tattoo. This method may demand up to 10 treatments over a period of a year and even then the tattoo might not completely disappear.
Another method of tattoo removal is called Dermabrasion. The tattoo is frozen until the skin is numb then the skin is sanded down. This method does not hurt very much but it usually leaves a scar.
You can also remove that tattoo surgically but this invariably leaves a scar.
Closely Guarded Knowledge About Removing A Tattoo
There are a number of instances where tattoo removal would be a good idea. We're going to fix all those irrational fears about tattoo removal in this article. There are plenty of reasons and methods for getting a tattoo removed... Tattoo removal is sometimes needed. If you're even contemplating it, then this artical can help you out. A few funny stories, cheap tattoo removal, tattoo removal methods and even highly recommended over the counter fade cream. That's what you'll find in this article.
1) Your teacher said you were stupid for getting that sleeve. You thought nothing of it and laughed it off. Now you're heading off to your job interview. You hope they won't discriminate against your ink and ask you to get your tattoo removed. You wear a nice coat to cover up your tattoo. Your boss is a great guy and seems to like you. Your tattoo shows a bit when you shake hands. He actually likes your inkwork and says he'll call you soon. You go home and wait. But there isn't a call.
2) There was no lady you loved more. There was nothing that would tear you two apart. It seemed like a great idea to get her name tattooed on you. She decided a few weeks later to break up with you. You had a winner there, huh? You consider the possibility of removing a tattoo. It didn't take you too long to get over her and find a new lady. You like her a lot, and she's really digging you, but... She stumbles upon the girl's name. Wow. Awkward. You decided to settle for some over the counter tattoo cover up cream for now.
3) You made some bad choices back then. A gang tattoo? What were you thinking? You said, "Yeah, we're all brothers and family here!". That's long past. There's nothing more you regret. You're confused as to why you even talked to them. Those days are over and you're going to find some before and after photos of people who've removed tattoos from their body. Your journey to remove a tattoo is just beginning. If you ever were sure of one thing... You're going get that tattoo off of you if it's the last thing you do.
That's the WHY of removing a tattoo, next we'll show you the how of removing a tattoo.
1) Tattoo removal cream. This method of tattoo removal is the most easily available and painless. With tons of before and after photos, you can easily find out that this method works. For the price of it, tattoo removal cream is absolutely amazing. For solid results, tat b gone is supposed to be star quality. It's highly recommended and has several claims from people who actually have used it to had their tattoo removed. While we're on popular brands, wrecking balm tattoo removal is said to be absolutely amazing.
2) Laser tattoo removal. This is a kind of pricey option, but your tattoo removal WILL happen. Laser tattoo removal costs are not hard to find, so you can see the different options you have.
It's a good option, but has some cons. The tattoo removal costs of this method are probably the most expensive options, and it's a painful and gross healing process (I have a friend who got his tribal tattoos removed via laser tattoo removal and the pictures of the healing process could very easily make you lose your lunch!).
3) And one more alternative would be: get some over the counter tattoo cover up cream. It works, won't break your budget, and you can actually keep your tattoos. It can hide all your tattoo pigments, and tattoo cover up cream is easy to get a hold of.
4) The most expensive removal method id a surgical tattoo removal. This tattoo removal method is very painful, and VERY pricey. The surgical procedure requires the replacing of the skin in that area.
1) Your teacher said you were stupid for getting that sleeve. You thought nothing of it and laughed it off. Now you're heading off to your job interview. You hope they won't discriminate against your ink and ask you to get your tattoo removed. You wear a nice coat to cover up your tattoo. Your boss is a great guy and seems to like you. Your tattoo shows a bit when you shake hands. He actually likes your inkwork and says he'll call you soon. You go home and wait. But there isn't a call.
2) There was no lady you loved more. There was nothing that would tear you two apart. It seemed like a great idea to get her name tattooed on you. She decided a few weeks later to break up with you. You had a winner there, huh? You consider the possibility of removing a tattoo. It didn't take you too long to get over her and find a new lady. You like her a lot, and she's really digging you, but... She stumbles upon the girl's name. Wow. Awkward. You decided to settle for some over the counter tattoo cover up cream for now.
3) You made some bad choices back then. A gang tattoo? What were you thinking? You said, "Yeah, we're all brothers and family here!". That's long past. There's nothing more you regret. You're confused as to why you even talked to them. Those days are over and you're going to find some before and after photos of people who've removed tattoos from their body. Your journey to remove a tattoo is just beginning. If you ever were sure of one thing... You're going get that tattoo off of you if it's the last thing you do.
That's the WHY of removing a tattoo, next we'll show you the how of removing a tattoo.
1) Tattoo removal cream. This method of tattoo removal is the most easily available and painless. With tons of before and after photos, you can easily find out that this method works. For the price of it, tattoo removal cream is absolutely amazing. For solid results, tat b gone is supposed to be star quality. It's highly recommended and has several claims from people who actually have used it to had their tattoo removed. While we're on popular brands, wrecking balm tattoo removal is said to be absolutely amazing.
2) Laser tattoo removal. This is a kind of pricey option, but your tattoo removal WILL happen. Laser tattoo removal costs are not hard to find, so you can see the different options you have.
It's a good option, but has some cons. The tattoo removal costs of this method are probably the most expensive options, and it's a painful and gross healing process (I have a friend who got his tribal tattoos removed via laser tattoo removal and the pictures of the healing process could very easily make you lose your lunch!).
3) And one more alternative would be: get some over the counter tattoo cover up cream. It works, won't break your budget, and you can actually keep your tattoos. It can hide all your tattoo pigments, and tattoo cover up cream is easy to get a hold of.
4) The most expensive removal method id a surgical tattoo removal. This tattoo removal method is very painful, and VERY pricey. The surgical procedure requires the replacing of the skin in that area.
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