Netizens Cry Foul Over Whang Od’s “Misappropriation” On Promoting Clothing Line

Concern netizens cried foul over “misappropriation” of Whang Od.

WHANG OD – Concern netizens cried foul over the “misappropriation” of centenarian tattoo artist Whang Od Oggay to promote a certain brand of clothes.

Whang Od is the oldest hand-tapped tattoo artist from the Philippines.

She is specifically residing in Kalinga province, it is about a 15-hour drive north of Manila.

In spite of the distance, a lot of people still make their way to see Apo Whang Od in person to have a tattoo from the artist.

whang od
Photo lifted from We the Pvblic

The artist is roughly 100 years old already and has started performing the ancient art since she was just 15 years old.

The customers of the artist never ran out, may it be from a foreign country or from the locals.

The art, being ancient as it is, was done with a thorn from a pomelo tree, a foot-long bamboo stick, coal scraped off a pot, and water.

And lately, Whang Od’s name was involved in a particular controversy to where her photo was used to promote a certain clothing brand.

From @anarchipelago.ko on the Instagram, a photo has been shared which elicited certain negative reactions from the people of the social media community.

The written caption along with the photo told, “An image of Whang-Od, revered elder Kalinga tattoo artist, used to sell merchandise for Polish clothing company Selva. As part of their Tribes Collection, Selva appropriates the designs of indigenous peoples around the world to place in their “Wild Clothing Store.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbJD1AuB_qp/?taken-by=anarchipelago.ko

Here are some of the comments obtained from the post:

Shame on the photographer too who released this photo to this Selva company

That is some cultural appropriation if ever there was.

I dont support this misappropriation and stealing of culture and profitizing off sacred.

whang od
Photo grabbed from Instagram (@anarchipelago.ko)
whang od
Photo grabbed from Instagram (@anarchipelago.ko)
whang od
Photo grabbed from Instagram (@anarchipelago.ko)
whang od
Photo grabbed from Instagram (@anarchipelago.ko)

What can you say about this?

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