Join us for the opening of The land of the tattooed: ungodly beasts by Kwinnie Lê!
Friday, 9 February 2024, 16.00-18.00
with pigment grinding ritual w/ special guest Joe Patty Sabanda
public event, no reservations needed
For their residency at Hotel Maria Kapel, artist Kwinnie Lê investigates the erasure of tattoo traditions under colonial rule, and the subsequent demonization of its practices in the years since. An installation of suspended tapestries covered with semi-fictional writings will set the arena for meetings, performances and private tattooing rituals with guest-participants Joe Patty Sabandar (traditional tattoo artist), Fileona Dkhar (visual artist) and Nash Caldera (visual artist), thus investigating their cultural heritage and the way it has been excluded from the modern tattoo industry.
During the opening, we will perform a ritual in which we will grind pigment in a circle that will be used to make tattoos at a later date. We will also work together to develop a ritual for the altar Kwinnie has placed in the chapel. Joe Patty-Sabandar will join and tell us more about traditional Moluccan tattoo practices and its histories.
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Joe Patty-Sabandar practices ancient skin work from the islands of Maluku. Joe is one of the last practitioners in the world of this ancient tattoo culture. His family is a pillar in the revival of traditional Tupuisini (tattooing). Joe has been rediscovering and reconnecting with his ancestral tattoo traditions from the Maluku islands for 17 years. As a traditional and cultural tattoo artist, he is very keen to preserve and share Moluccan culture as it existed before the Portuguese colonized the Maluku islands in the 1400’s. He is part of a group of third and fourth generation Dutch-Moluccans who are thirsty for knowledge and the ancient culture of their homeland.
Image: Joe Patty-Sabandar