The first sound I heard upon reaching Buscalan was that of heaving and panting. A group of us had just completed a steep climb to the remote village, which is tucked deep into the undulating mountains ...

BUSCALAN, PHILIPPINES • Whang-Od, 107, has witnessed more than a century of change in her remote village in the Philippine northern hills. But the greatest changes have come because of her, the ...

For their April 2023 issue, the magazine tapped 106-year-old Apo Maria "Whang-Od" Oggay, a traditional mambabatok, or Indigenous tattoo artist, to pose for the beauty-centric issue. As outlined in a ...

The thousand-year-old practice of batok will live on, in Buscalan and around the world, thanks to the descendants whom Apo Whang-Od has been training and inspiring. Modern conveniences haven’t ...

At 106, Apo Whang-od is the oldest known person practicing batok, a traditional tattooing technique that dates back 1,000 years in the Philippines. These tattoos were once badges of honor to warriors ...

Surrounded by lush rice terraces and undulating landscape, the mountain village of Buscalan is home to just 200 or so households. It rests in the Kalinga province of the Philippines and is about a ...

Walk around Metro Manila’s many neighborhoods, and you’ll come across some exquisite artworks in ink. These works don’t always live on paper—sometimes, they live on skin. Over the years, tattoos have ...