The ORASYON TATTOO of the Philippines: Carnal Syncretism of Pain and Belief (an Installation)

ABSTRACT

The installation is the spatial overview and output of my Masteral Thesis I have presented to the Department of Art Studies at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. It visages the many folk practices and beliefs in the East Visayan area of the country, specifically in the island province of Leyte. It sheds light on the YUNAL, or the “Orasyon” (Prayer) tattoo, a magico-religious phenomenon instrumental in the protection and control of the harsh realities of the rural folk's life as they accommodate the onset of modernization.

The display recognizes the transmutation of the tattoo from native indigenous harberdashery to folk magico-religious and talismanic motifs found in the present day. The phenomenom has a common denominator in its character: Pain and the Drawing of Blood to establish sacred Belief.

The Culture of Pain is seen the the various rituals and tools to incept the theatre of the tattooing ritual. Cryptollogic prayers and letters which seem amazing how non-literate tattoo practitioners come upon could be associated to ancient texts that are held highly potent and mystical. Yet the tools for the rite are indigenous, stylized and crude. Along with Pain is the miasma of a Century of Philippine Revolt and Intransigence, the History of the Filipino's struggle for freedom from oppression mixed with bastardized Christian fervor, and the monotheistic view of the sacred and the profane.

- Dulce C. Anacion

(Title of Installation: "Pagyunal han Armas Banderao")