When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries,
you don’t just turn it off one day.
– Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic
Iban traditional designs and tattoos, both known as ‘ukir’ in our language, are a legacy of our forefathers. These are indeed arguably among the world’s best.
Many youngsters and adults, boys, girls, men and women both of Iban origin and from other ethnicities seem to be obsessed with tattoos.
However, not all of these are truly Iban in forms and designs. For example, the popular images of dragons, serpents, fish and others are not traditionally Iban as the forms have been distorted or enhanced – many of them the products of modern tattoo artists.
I once owned a book on Iban designs by Augustine Anggat, borrowed and never returned by my nephew Renyold Edward Jelani, an Open University Malaysia (OUM) TESL graduate, now a primary school headmaster.
However, I am quite happy that he had come out with a number of designs in the form of murals on doors and walls of our longhouse in Kedap, Saratok and that of his wife’s in Tapang Punggu in the upper reaches of the Julau river in Julau, Sarikei Division.
Lately, my childhood friend and cousin Jack Janting @ Nyandang came out with a book in the Iban language entitled ‘Ukir Dayak Iban’ published by Iban Dotcom Publication, Miri.
Jack, 72, a humble and simple man, is a pensioner. He was decorated with Bentara Bintang Sarawak (BBS) by Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud in 2014, ending his illustrious service in the government sector as Assistant Evaluation Officer in the Local Government Ministry in Kuching in 2003.
A pioneer graduate of the then Kuching Trade School in 1965, Jack is diligent, meticulous and self-trained – he is not a tattoo artist per se; he just designs the traditional Iban tattoo images for use by the real tattoo artists.
His self-training and usage of sophisticated tools have paid handsome dividends as he had been commissioned to do murals for his original longhouse in Malang, Bakong, Miri as well as his Betong longhouse in Tanu by the roadside. Many of his works are actually three dimensional with a few being four-dimensional.
His latest commission was designing murals on walls, doors, arch of a church in Miri. Archbishop Datuk Bolly Lapok, now retired, was the guest of honour at the opening of the church, according to Jack during our May 2019 meeting in Kuching.
His masterpieces are the three-dimensional traditional Iban warrior shields including a few that are close to 10 feet tall; murals for longhouse walls carved out of wood.
A few orders were made for ukir designs out of plywood. He uses special designing tools, one which was used by me during my Final Year as a Fine Arts undergraduate at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang back in 1978.
My nine-foot tall four-dimensional masterpiece ‘Warrior’s Dance’ also out of wood scored very highly and was copied into bronze by my late lecturer Prof Dr Piyadasa – with my permission for a good fee. I will share with readers this one later.
Besides the traditional warrior shield, this father-of-four also designs on the traditional Iban blowpipes (sumpit), containers of the darts for blowpipes, frames for photos and certificates, gong holders, longhouse posts and window frames, awnings and others.
But in the book, he is offering very intricate and interesting motifs and designs for Iban traditional tattoos, which I believe would cause the tattooists to be spoilt for choice.
Some of his body tattoo designs in the book include ‘Bekanyau’, ‘Nilih’, ‘Terit’, ‘Beduri’, ‘Betaban’, ‘Serilulu’, ‘Lanji’, ‘Tekiding’, ‘Ingatka Aku’, ‘Lalis’, ‘Sadak’, ‘Rawa Ai’, ‘Latik’, ‘Semambu’ and many more.
What started as a hobby to kill boredom after his retirement is now a kind of obsession for the soft-spoken cousin of mine. His designs are his own and are original pieces.
For example, his body tattoo design ‘Berkanyau’ is speaking to the viewer as if it really has a message or messages to convey just like Vincent Van Gogh’s most famous painting “Starry Night” which is instantly recognisable because of its unique style, or Pablo Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles” and “The Weeping Woman” which are landmark pieces by the famous artist.
These are famous paintings that speak a thousand words to the viewers and similarly any one of Jack’s body tattoo piece would speak words to the viewers according to their own comprehension and understanding or whatever messages the pieces intend to convey … including their abstract terms.
In these terms, Jack’s tattoo designs are actually abstract works of art in the modern sense of the words, but presented using traditional motifs placing them into the same league as that of Van Gogh and Picasso in terms of originality, though not necessarily that of their value.
Jack, however, is contented with whatever proceeds from his hard work.
His next book will contain about 100 body tattoo designs. Kudos my friend and cousin!
This coming book will bring keen Iban and other readers closer to the convolutedness and new frontiers of Iban traditional tattoo designs.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
