Meet Vogue’s 106-year-old cover model: Indigenous Filipino tattoo artist Apo Whang-Od

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Vogue Philippines recently unveiled the cover of their April 2023 beauty issue featuring Apo Whang-Od, an Indigenous tattoo artist who has made history as the oldest person to ever be showcased on a Vogue cover.

Whang-Od, a 106-year-old woman, is renowned as the last and oldest “mambabatok,” which is a traditional Kalinga tattooist who uses the hand-tapping technique called “batok.” Traditionally, only male members of the Butbut tribe practiced this technique, but Whang-Od became the first woman to do so at the age of 15 under her father’s guidance.

Vogue Philippines has praised Whang-Od, who also goes by Maria Oggay, for her tireless efforts to preserve the tradition at a time when Western beauty standards threatened to erase the tattoo technique. With the arrival of American Catholic missionaries in Kalinga, tattooed women from the village were forced to cover up their tattoos, which were seen as shameful.

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During her career, Whang-Od has tattooed thousands of international visitors who traveled great distances to be tattooed using only a bamboo stick, a pomelo tree thorn, water and coal.