Lane Wilcken
LOCATION:
STYLE:
Traditional Tap Tattoo, Filipino Tattoos
STUDIO:
Lane Wilcken
"Cultural tattooing is a RITUAL. There are chants, prayers and offerings to gods/ancestors to whom these tattoos are dedicated. Blessings & sometimes curses are invoked in bestowing these designs, as well as being marks of prestige, heritage & history. Modern western tattooing is the result of taking indigenous practices and stripping them of their spiritual qualities leaving only the 'art' upon the skin. The recipient is left to make their own meaning for the designs rather than receive sacred ritual marks that are recognized by generations upon generations of ancestors. Let us work to decolonize tattooing and restore its honor." -Lane Wilcken
ARTIST BIO:
Lane Wilcken is also an artisan of ancient technology & art, widely recognized by the Filipino-American community as a "mambabatok," a cultural tattoo practitioner only using ancient hand-tapped tattoo techniques. He makes all his own tools, many of which are now extinct in the Philippines. Lane's practice is spiritual and includes meditation and prayer before composing batok (tattoo) arrangements according to the designs and symbols of a person's specific ethnic group and their personal experience. The actual application of the batok is done as ritual, with chants, food offerings and prayers as part of the process.
Lane has been researching the indigenous past of the Philippines and the Pacific Islands for nearly 3 decades. His methodology incorporates oral tradition; written history, linguistics, personal experience and cross-cultural analysis with other Austronesian peoples of the Pacific to bring a fuller understanding of the origins and culture of the peoples of the Philippines. His interest in cultural tattooing was borne out of a desire to strengthen cultural pride among Filipinos and to reunite them and Pacific Islanders symbolically and spiritually with their estranged ancestors. Lane has given numerous presentations and lectures on tattooing, mythology and other cultural traditions at several universities and private forums.
He is the author of “Filipino Tattoos ancient to Modern” -and- “The Forgotten Children of Maui”, and a contributing writer for various magazines and journals.