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Traditional Indonesian tattoos: An age-old form of storytelling
Refi Mascot - JP/Emke de VriesAn unusual tattoo draws the eye in a photo of a member of the Sungai Utik Dayak Iban tribe from West Kalimantan
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Refi Mascot - JP/Emke de Vries
An unusual tattoo draws the eye in a photo of a member of the Sungai Utik Dayak Iban tribe from West Kalimantan.
Both his shoulders display traditional floral tattoos, but on his chest, there are outlines of two airplanes ' a tattooed illustration that looks like a children's drawing and an unexpected mix of modernity and tradition.
'He saw an airplane for the first time and then decided he wanted to have a tattoo of it,' Refi Mascot smiles. 'He was very happy with the tattoo. For the Iban people, travelling is very important ' the more you travel, the more tattoos you have.'
Refi photographs indigenous tribes and their traditional tattoos in the Mentawai Islands, Kalimantan and Flores.
The photographer, blacksmith and gardener recently opened the BauTanah Tattoo Museum, where he showcases treasures gathered from his travels, his pictures and some self-made replicas of tattoo sticks.
The simple museum is not easy to find, tucked away down a narrow alley near Jl. Matraman in Central Jakarta.
Refi, who got his first tattoo when he was 14, has plenty of traditional and non-traditional tattoos himself.
His upper arms bear weaving motifs from Flores, which he got after observing whale hunting in Lamalera, East Flores.
'It is not a traditional tattoo, but a mixture of Floresian weaving motifs, which often feature fish and even whales. I believe it is a way of telling a story,' he said. The tattoos were created using a traditional method called hand tapping. Two sticks are used ' one stick with a needle, and a second to strike the first.
The process used to be done by one person, but modern tattoo artists now do it with two, the second person stretching the skin to make it hurt less.
With the tattoo museum, Refi wants people to learn about traditional tattoos and change their negative image, as the tradition is disappearing.
'I built the museum because I want the government to open their mindset. They still do not acknowledge that tattooing is a tradition, they don't understand it.'
He brought up the notorious 'Petrus' killings in the 80s, when many alleged criminals were murdered, it is suspected by the Indonesian military, because they had tattoos.
The stigma surrounding tattoos intensified following the killing, with tribe members allegedly locked them over their tattoos and the Dayak people reportedly having their earrings torn out.
'This still has an impact. Young people are ashamed of tattoos. We want people to rethink tattoos and start getting traditional tattoos again. We go to the tribes and show them our tattoos and tattoo them again,' Refi said.
Agung Prasetyo, an assistant to Jakarta-based traditional tattoo artist Ranu Khodir, helps Refi out at the museum and accompanies him on trips. 'We come to tell them, 'look I am not Dayak, but I am proud of using Dayak tattoos',' said Agung.
Agung has a bunga terong tattoo on his shoulders ' the Dayak flower tattoo that symbolizes travelling. On his back is the mentawai sarapak abak tattoo, which represents a boat and symbolizes balance.
Agung's tattoos, though, are not in the traditional style ' instead of consisting solely of black lines, Agung designed the tattoo the other way around; his whole back is tattooed in black, with his skin forming the lines.
He explained his admiration for Rage Against the Machine's bass player Tim Commerfords' all-black tattoo style, which inspired him to create a hybrid new design.
As the traditional tattoo method is slower than machine tattooing, completing the piece took over 35 hours.
BauTanah, which translates as 'soil of the earth', is also the name of a cultural community in Jakarta that recently held another edition of the BauTanah Street Gallery, also founded by Refi. Refi, who is married to an Australian woman and has two children, used to live in Australia.
'In Australia, I see the football tattoos and Maori tattoos, but they mainly just use it for fashion. I think it's just a trend. It's silly to me because there is no meaning behind it,' he said.
He said he also preferred to organize exhibitions in Indonesia.
'In Australia it's not as active as here and it's very expensive. Here we can make everything spontaneous and organize it in an hour; I like that. I don't like it to be too organized, like in Europe, where everything is organized three years before.'
Things with the museum indeed seem to progress slowly.
'It's a small building; maybe we will move it to a different place if I have the money. But I don't want it to be commercial because I want to share my stories for free,' he said.
'Same thing with the Street Gallery; it's for free, there are many volunteers who come to give free photography lessons to the community. Unfortunately, I don't have any money to pay them ' my funding is trust. They come here and get connections, experience and then they can teach later.'
' The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post.
