Bad to the Borneo
At the front of Ernesto’s tattoo design folio there is a A4 sized graphic of an indigenous elder in ceremonial dress, with added text which reads “Preserve Iban culture – Get Tattooed!” This cheerful and yet devoted attitude typifies Ernesto’s approach to his art form. During our conversation he explains that when he came to tattooing some 15-20 years earlier, the traditional customs and designs of Borneo’s tattooed tribes people were all but gone. Had he been even a few years later in beginning his research, via travelling to longhouses and collecting stories from tattooed elders about the meaning and techniques involved in creating Borneo’s instantly recognisable strong black imagery, it may have been too late.