Creating a Bridge with Tattoo Artist Jo Bulaong

This article is part of Mochi Magazine’s summer issue on Art: We invite you to expand your perspective of what art is or who an artist can be. As you check out the rest of our issue here, we hope you are inspired to find your own form of artistic expression.

Before colonization, the Philippines had a deep history of tattooing called batok, the practice and art of hand poking tattoos with sticks and thorns. Tattoos adorn individuals in many parts of the world as an integral part of their culture — markings for warriors, symbols of strength, social standing, beauty, and even for healing and spiritual purposes. However, the practice of batok began to disappear as Filipino culture shifted to seeing tattoos as archaic and ugly, and molded to what was acceptable to colonizers’ interpretation of beauty. 

“In pre-colonial times, somebody would have tattooed all of us,” says Jo Bulaong. 

Bulaong, a nonbinary second-generation Pilipinx, practices ceremonial hand-poked tattoos in Sacramento, California, and is finding a way to bridge tradition with the complex diaspora of later generations. 

Their work is rooted in ritual and spiritual practices; they describe it as “a decolonized approach to tattoo medicine. Marking our bodies is a radical self-reclamation within oppressive structures that seek to control, contain, and categorize our vessels.” They also avoid claiming they are doing traditional, precolonial Filipino tattoo rituals.

“It isn’t my right to claim that,” Bulaong explains. “Even though my family and my lineage are from the Philippines, there is a difference in the contemporary tattoo rituals I’m doing now while still honoring the authenticity and traditions of the old ways. I’m still trying to find a way to bridge these together, but not necessarily recreate it piece by piece.”

Their beginning of this practice was a deep journey into themselves and their culture. 

Family expectations, immigrant experiences of survival, and the cultural emphasis on high-paying careers made Bulaong push any creative self-expression away. Before becoming a tattoo artist, they majored in political science and worked for the state. Bulaong says, “My heart wasn’t in my work at the time, and then I got fired. I love to tell people that because when one door closes, another door opens.” Being fired created an opportunity and space for them to look into what they valued and wanted from life, and reconnect with what they loved to do as a child and start decolonization work. Being let go from the 9-to-5 allowed them to start honoring themselves and throw away the rules and structures that had repressed their creativity.

Once they started drawing again and looking deeper into their roots, they discovered the starting point for their journey into tattooing as a spiritual pathway to connect with their culture, body, power, and sovereignty. “Diving into my art gave me a strong foundation to say, ‘This is who I am, this is what I stand for, and I’m going to take up space in this way.’” 

The Art in the Process

Bulaong’s most common offering is the two-day intuitive sessions that channel designs guided by ancestors. Bulaong says, “I like the timeline; it feels very anti-capitalist. It’s able to be slow medicine and a long container for healing and exploration.” 

The first day is a reiki ceremony, during which Bulaong unearths guidance or wisdom the client’s spirit asks for, looks into their energetic field, and notes the symbols and images they download. This looks different from client to client, but intentions or questions needing answers are usually discussed before the meditation and visualization reiki session to prepare for the medicine (tattoo) to be received. Bulaong opens the space to the client’s ancestors and invites them to join the room spiritually for the tattoo ceremony. 

“This is powerful and activates many feelings in clients that may not be as connected to their ancestors,” says Bulaong. “There’s no wrong way to experience this session; it’s a safe container to feel all emotions that may arise.”

Taking into consideration the client’s experience, Bulaong then collaborates with the client to create the tattoo design. On the day of the tattoo, the client can see the design and make any changes that they feel necessary. But most of the time, changes are minor, and clients surrender to accepting the medicine. Many modalities are used to prepare for the medicine, such as breathwork, meditation breathwork, reiki, and auric scanning.

At the beginning of the tattooing ceremony, a candle is lit with intentions set and burned until the hand poking is finished, which can take two to three hours, depending on the piece. The client then blows out the candle to close the ceremony. Finally, celebratory blessings and prayers are said over the tattoo, and it begins its work of supporting clients in the world. 

“The marking is just the doorway in the journey; the work has just begun,” Bulaong says. They explain that the tattoo does not heal or fix you, but is a tool that helps navigate your life journey and is a portal to new ways of loving, understanding, and being yourself: a grounding point and a centering piece to return to.

When asked about hand poking versus using a gun to tattoo, they say that hand poke feels more personal and intimate because of the ceremony and the intention. “I tell my clients to imagine a cycle of every dot as an opening for things to be released and, simultaneously, a space for things to come in. Sometimes the gun is a third presence with a lot of noise, and I like to keep it centered on my practice. So I use the same needles in the gun but attach them to a popsicle stick with gauze,” they say.  

Many of Bulaong’s sessions bring up intense emotions, such as grief, love, fear, and shame. The placement of the tattoos also plays a role in the healing or acceptance of those emotions. They compare tattooing to Chinese acupuncture, in which needles are stuck into energy meridians in the body to release tension and open more space for healing. For example, the solar plexus holds a lot of shame and fear, which can cause blockage, and placing a tattoo there mends the relationship with that area in the body. Tattoos placed along the energy centers are even more powerful when infused with intention.  

Universal Themes

Colonization and migration have caused much of history to be erased or undocumented. As a result, it’s hard to pinpoint or even find traces of precolonial markings relating to our heritage. 

“The Philippines is not a monolith,” Bulaong says, explaining that different islands have different symbols, and Bulaong tries to pinpoint the symbols as close as they can. “The journey of Filipino ancestral remembrance is so complicated and intense, so if we can’t figure out exactly where someone is from, which is understandable, I turn to more common motifs such as crabs, crocodile teeth, spirals, waves, air, and arrows. If we can get as specific as possible, that’s great.”

For all clients Bulaong uses universal symbols from many cultures, such as spirals representing life cycles, change, time, and energy flow, to find a meeting point between then and now. They also use arrows and diamonds to show the direction of energy. They want to be careful not to appropriate the symbols and take the core shape and power in a more universally broad sense. 

Embracing and Accepting Permission

Feeling imposter syndrome and questioning if they are allowed to take up space in this way is a common experience among many of Bulaong’s clients. Bulaong says questions like “Am I enough?” or “Am I allowed to feel this is for me” are good ones to ask. They challenge potential clients to sit with themselves and ask hard, uncomfortable questions, even ones that show the authenticity of their heart’s desire. 

“I think it’s great to step back and check ourselves to ensure that we aren’t appropriating and are aware of our intentions,” says Bulaong. “The first significant step in moving respectfully and lovingly rather than [being] exploitative and extractive is to sit and reflect on your truth and reasoning for getting this tattoo.”

Even though getting an intuitive cultural tattoo is, as Bulaong puts it, “in your blood” or if you’ve “checked a box” in terms of belonging to the culture, Bulaong always checks in on clients’ intentions. They encourage self-reflection, which includes examining what the tattoo means to the client, their relationship with their culture, and the meaning of holding their culture close. 

At the same time, Bulaong wants clients to validate this part of their culture, to remember that their ancestors are from this land and that honoring the relationship and the connection to their culture is fully supported by their ancestors. Then, once clients have asked the hard questions and searched their hearts, they should honor themselves and receive these tattoos with love. 

Bulaong says, “At the end of the day, it’s your body, and you can receive whatever markings you want to receive, but I do urge people from any lineage to investigate and reflect with yourself, and the markings will be that much more powerful and more medicinal and magical if you establish a commitment to yourself and your culture. Everyone is on their journey, but many folks eventually come to their terms.”

Meeting a Cultural Icon

This past spring, Apo Whang-Od, a 106-year-old Filipina tattoo artist, graced the cover of Vogue Philippines. In her village of Buscalan, she is the last mambabatok, or traditional Kalinga tattooist, of her time — a part of Filipino culture she has been able to preserve and pass on. 

“I had many family members send me the Vogue cover,” Bulaong said. “They mentioned how proud they were to have someone in the family doing this type of tattoo medicine. I feel so happy to see her story spread and medicine flow.”

Bulaong met her last year when they traveled to southeast Asia for five months for an ancestral trip. They experienced their homeland to unearth more stories of which they had only scratched the surface. 

“The 10-hour bus ride was the most challenging,” Bulaong emphasized, “but being met with the most beautiful green rice terraces and warm and friendly people is worth it.”

Tattoos are done with a pomelo thorn chosen the day of the ceremony. Bulaong explains that they unknowingly picked the biggest thorn out of the lot and just accepted that was what the ancestors wanted. They received the signature three dots from Whang-Od and a larger piece from one of her nieces. Bulaong mentioned Whang-Od saw the tattoos on their arms and held them — a moment transcending words. They say that to be a witness and part of precolonial tattooing in the Philippine mountains with people who could protect their traditions and medicine is an honor. 

Reflections on the Journey

Looking back,  Bulaong notes they struggled for so long to find what felt like their purpose. 

“This job I get to do feels deeply ancestral and meaningful, not only to me but being able to help people through transitions in their lives and create art along the way. I feel so over the moon happy, and in conversations and experiences with others, it feels like they’re also pouring into my cup. I’m doing what feels good and right,” Bulaong says.

Being able to relate to this standard of success that looms over so many of us, I had to ask what Bulaong’s parents thought. Bulaong replies that their parents still ask if they are going to be a nurse or go back to school. But their parents also are on their decolonizing journey and understand how vital tattooing is in their culture. 

“So it’s been beautiful to witness this kind of ripple effect that my tattooing has had,” says Bulaong. Of course, their parents still make career jabs, but Bulaong has been able to stand happily in their truth.  

My conversation with Bulaong was enough for me to feel their love and care for this practice. The respect they approach this medicine with is clear and intentional. Bulaong’s contemporary tattooing is deeply rooted in awareness, acceptance, decolonization, and a powerful love that honors their ancestors, culture, self, and community. There’s beautiful intimacy in allowing your body to be a canvas for a tattoo to live on — a piece of art that occupies space intentionally to serve as an extension of yourself. Remnants of a moment, a symbol of your story and reclamation of self, a gateway for emotions to be all they demand. Through Bulaong’s practice, medicine and culture befriend art to create a part of you, serving as a starting point to reflect, heal, and connect to what is and what was. 

You can follow Jo Bulaong on Instagram and visit their website for tattoo bookings, services, and more information on their ceremonies. 

Images Credit: Jo Bulaong