An Imagined Past

A recent illustration gig has kept me away from my current personal work recently--a very welcome distraction, of course. Today is finally a day off for me to stretch my legs in the studio and return to some unfinished business. Notably, my new "tribe" series (I don't have a name for it yet). What got me going with this initially was a quick online research of indigenous tattoos in Filipino tribal culture. I love tattoos, both from a design perspective and a cultural/anthropological one. I find myself regularly returning to google with more tattoo questions and explorations. So I decided, why not create some illustrations based on this little past time of mine? So I have.

My focus, however, is on the nostalgic power of the indigenous ink. There has been a surge in tribal tattooing in the last few years. I know a few tattoo artists back home in the Philippines who have noted the increase of requests for tribal tattoos. Despite the fact that they look cool, there's also an element of an investigation of the past that drives people to them. The past certainly plays a powerful role on how we see ourselves in relation to others. Indigenous culture, in particular, plays a nostalgic role in our connecting the dots of "who we are" and "where we come from". And it is nostalgic because it is something we can only look back to, outside of our own experiences; yet it affects the way we perceive things, and how we navigate forward in life.

These tattoos/marks/symbols have become powerful self identifiers; tools for personal empowerment. They represent a whole range of ideas and concepts that are unique to an individual, but also may provide them with a sense of belonging to something greater then just themselves. This is also why, traditionally, indigenous tattoos have very specific designs that determine belonging to different social groups, communities or tribes (that sets them apart from each another), as well as one's place within a social group that they belong to.

My drawings explore the nostalgic effect that symbols make in creating a unified sense of identity--an imagined past shared by all. And particularly how it has become entrenched in popular culture. I am using bright and glossy colors, and patterns that we see everywhere. I'm not the only artist fascinated by this subject. In fact, I see influences of folk art everywhere from the visual arts to music. We all romanticize the past, and hope to become better versions of ourselves because of it.

Some of the tattoos I am drawing don't even exist (patterns that have come from my own subconscious and imagination) and some are hybrids of different ones chosen by random. This is not, however, a project on propaganda (though that would be interesting too), but one on how the social imagination can be broken down into symbols that inform personal narratives and histories. I also thoroughly enjoy drawing them.

I started with graphite directly on the un-primed wood. I wanted to use the wood texture for his skin.

Then I finished him off with some acrylics and water color, and later coated with a gloss-medium varnish.