The Malaysian Today - Story by Illeanna Chan
"Listen to your heart and you won't go wrong," he advised. This man sitting across me has certainly been doing things right. Some said that he was gambling his future away when he ventured into this profession, but he proved his critics wrong.
A law graduate from the U.K. (With honors I should add. Furthermore, while studying, he worked in a restaurant's kitchen to make ends meet.), Ernesto Kalum, the proprietor of Borneo Headhunters Tattoo and Piercing decided that getting dress up in a suit and tie every morning to play the part of an attorney wasn't for him. "It's just not me," said this man who was recently featured in the National Geographic's Taboo series on the tattooing culture. Here at his studio he was clothed only in a pair of shorts. I suppose it served the purpose as he has to exhibit the work of art on his body. He had, at the point when this interview was conducted, "one, two, three... we counted, sixteen" tattoos on various parts of his anatomy. "I'll be adding more over the years," he grinned. "I think I am the first person to appear shirtless in the Malaysian Tatler magazine". Sure enough, I was shown an article about a famous tattoo artist in Kuching, attached with a picture of a man with hair reaching to almost above the waist, smiling amiably to the camera.
Armed with determination and a great passion to advance the Iban traditional tattooing technique to world class and professional standard, he opened his modest 5x5x5 studio at a ground floor shoplot in Wayang Street in 1998. Now, he has relocated to the first floor room with bigger space. Still, the place has retained a self-sufficient and cozy atmosphere. This 32-year-old bachelor has not let success go to his head. Not one to refrain from hard work, he did most of the toil himself when it came to restoring the premise. For instance, the bamboo wall paneling of the studio was done up by him. I admired the cushion cover with bunga terung (eggplant, a traditional tattoo design), which was self-made using silk screen printing method.
So how does one actually become a tattoo artist? According to Ernesto, it was by accident in his case. The image of him experimenting with his own first tattoo seems like something out of the MTV's Jackass movie. He proceeded to show me a superman logo on his left inner thigh. What started out as pure amusement eventually turned into a cultural awareness of his own heritage. Tattooing is an art form in the Iban community. It serves as decoration, protection, as well as marks the status of the wearer. As progress takes place, this body art becomes less popular. Ernesto decided to do something about this. He learnt the theory of the traditional technique of tattooing from his grandfather and village elders and put it into practice, and taught himself to apply the modern machine through experiments.
He is going places. His career takes him to many cities around the world. In demand for his skill, he has been invited to display his creative work in tattoo conventions in the US, UK, Japan, Toronto, Zurich, etc., winning numerous awards along the way. The list of awards he had won is endless; the most memorable one according to him is the prestigious H.R. Giger Award, a feat that was accomplished in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2001. (H.R. Giger is the award-winning designer of the movies Aliens and Species). He captured both the Best Tribal and Respect to the Culture trophies. The year 2002 was quite remarkable for him. Not only did he win more awards, he organized his own tattoo convention, the first of its kind in South East Asia. The International Borneo Tattoo Convention was held at the Sarawak Cultural Village in May 2002. The event was a gathering of the world's thirty top tattoo artists to showcase their talent. It was a huge success, and plans for the next convention possibly in 2005 (which he hopes to be bigger and better) have been discussed.
Not one to restrict himself to just one task, he recently undertook the role of event promoter of a local singer. Now, taking it a step further, he has set up his own music production company called the Borneo Headhunters Music Production. Under this label, he has launched an album for a young musician in which he also wrote a song in the Album. "I just do what I feel like doing". The idea was actually conceived over a coffee table chat. It was just for fun", remarked this versatile man. And it was just for fun when he jammed with the likes of Noel Redding (the bassist of Jimmy Hendrix from the group The Experience). He disclosed that if he had not been a tattoo artist, he would have been a rock star, citing Bon Jovi as his role model.
But deep down, there's a philosopher in him too. During the course of our animated interview, he dropped quotes like "Believe in yourself", "Everything is possible", "The sky is not the limit". His positive can be rather contagious.
Most people, in their quest for material gain and fame, disregard or totally forget about their past. But for Ernesto, remembering and respecting his culture propelled him to great heights. He has brought the unique Iban tattooing technique to international recognition. This is a reminder that you can have roots and still have wings to fly.