Tattoo artist Mo Naga explored the history of the Apatani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh and Naga tribals to bring alive ancient body art
One year ago, he opened Guwahati’s first professional tattoo studio cum school, and embarked on a journey towards the revival and promotion of the region’s rich art and cultural heritage through tattoos. Today, after months of travelling and research through the various states of the North East, Mo Naga returned to Guwahati. He carried with him numerous unpublished stories, photos, videos disclosing the truth behind the misinterpretations about the age-old tribal communities and the signature tribal art of the Naga headhunters, the Apatanis and more. Recently, Mo Naga reintroduced an ancient, yet unique way of passing on knowledge and identity to future generations — tattoos. Mo also introduced a new logo that is a perfect representation of his mission to revive and restore the tribal tattoos of the region to its original glory.
As a Naga youth growing up in Manipur, Mo noticed that though the tribes of North East have a very unique form of body art, yet the stories behind this form of art has never been published. A few stories that have been circulated about the Nagas and the Apatanis, have portrayed a twisted or misinterpreted version of the truth. Hence, after gaining substantial popularity and success in Delhi as a tattoo artist, Mo decided to return to his roots and delve into the depth of all the information on tribal art and tattoos through an extended research trip in the easternmost corner of the country. Today, Mo Naga is a man on a mission — to dig out the old and blend in the new. Mo has found out the significance of various tattoos sported by the tribal communities, many of which have never even been recorded. He is recreating these motifs in a more contemporary style so that they can be sported by the present generation.
Mo Naga informed, “A Naga tattoo has always been mark of achievement in the headhunting clans. A headhunter used to get a tattoo whenever he demolished his enemy and successfully collected his head. The more the number of heads he collected, the more tattoos he got on his body. For a woman, different stages of life — puberty, marriage, motherhood — used to be marked with a tattoo of achievement. But with the onset of Christianity and the ban on headhunting, these tattoos lost their significance.”
He added, “I envision a day when a Naga tattoo will once again, be seen as an internationally recognised benchmark of achievements and Naga beauty. I believe, the day is not far when people from all around the globe will be flying in to the easternmost corner of India to mark their various achievements with a Naga tattoo symbolising his triumph in life.”
Mo also spoke about the various misconceptions that have been thriving in the absence of proper information about the significance of the tribal tattoos of the region. During his research trip to Arunachal Pradesh, Mo had an opportunity of meeting the chief priest of the Apatani tribe and he came to know that the history of the Apatani women have, very unfortunately, been distorted to their utter disadvantage. Apatani women are known for sporting nose studs and facial tattoos. The common notion prevailing in the contemporary Arunachali society, particularly the Apatanis, is that the women were forced to wear tattoos to make them ugly so that the enemies from neighboring tribes would not abduct them. However, the chief priest informed him that this is a hearsay theory — a false understanding of Apatani history resulting from lack of proper research.
He narrated the story about a girl called Ami Nwdo Bunyi, who was unable to get a groom. No girl could weave like her and none had more grace in doing domestic chores and she was good looking too. The girl complained to the Apatani God Popee about it. Popee was kind and told her that if she wore nose studs, ear rings and wear tattoos on her face, she would become more beautiful and attract a handsome groom for herself. The story as repeated by other Apatani scholars and priests goes on to say that Ami Nwdo Bunyi started wearing nose studs, earrings and the tattoos on her chin and forehead down to the nose. As foretold by her God, a handsome Apatani man came and married her. As a result, all the young Apatani girls started wearing ear rings, nose studs and tattoos on their faces. Such stories of loss of history can be seen across the country, more so in regions corrupted by powerful religions and beliefs.
Taking Mo’s mission a step further, Headhunters’ Ink will organise a three-day educational seminar-cum-workshop at the Academy Hall, Kohima from November 21 to 23. He will speak on the topic, ‘Naga Tattoo Art and Culture — The forgotten stories of our ancestors’. His initiative has been supported by the Directorate of Art and Culture, Nagaland and will be hosted by The Dream Catchers, Nagaland.
“I am now trying to give back the knowledge that I have earned, back to my society. I plan to create a series of patterns inspired from the region’s tribal art, but with a contemporary twist. Each new motif that I design from the primal pattern will carry with it the rich legacy. When someone gets a tribal tattoo now, he will not do it just because he likes the pattern, he will do it because he knows the story behind it”, Mo Naga signed off.