Case Study: Apo Whang-Od To Manila

808 Words2 Pages

Last October 20 to 22, 2017, Apo Whang-Od Oggay was brought to Manila from Kalinga, for Manila FAME, a trade show on culture, designs, crafts, and brands with the help of the Philippine Air Force (Rey and Serafica). The original reason for her being brought to the trade fair was to nominate her for the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA), or the National Living Treasures Award, according to the executive director of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions, or DTI-CITEM (Rey, “Whang-od not 'exploited,' says Manila FAME organizers”). Whang-Od is known as one of the last Kalinga traditional tattoo artists, known as mambabatok, and is said to be 100 years old. The controversial issue regarding Whang-Od at Manila FAME started when a photo of her sleeping at a press conference where she was a panelist at went viral, as she looked very tired. From this photo, opinions started arising on as to whether or not she was exploited, whether or not she exercised agency during the event, whether culture was commodified, and the like. On one hand, several sources online insist that Apo Whang-Od was not exploited during the trade fair, as according to the organizers they did not get anything from the artist’s earnings during the fair, and that they only wanted to promote the pambabatok art …show more content…

We can’t put a value on their art because we don’t and can’t truly understand their culture since we aren’t from the Kalinga province. Of course, if Whang-Od and other mambabatoks wanted to share their culture themselves, it’s alright and we mustn’t shame them for being willing to do so, but we - as educated people - should know better and we should treat other cultures with respect. Of course, there are other ways to share their culture without

More about Case Study: Apo Whang-Od To Manila

Open Document