Tattoo artists ply trade on Yogyakarta streets

Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Under a leafy banyan tree in front of the Yogyakarta State Palace on Jl. Malioboro, Angger, a street tattoo artist, started to outline a bracelet-like pattern on a young girl's shoulder.

"Fine, Rp 60,000 for two tattoo on your right and left shoulders. I'll give you a Rp 10,000 discount this time as your birthday present," Angger told the girl, who had just turned 16.

Angger and some 15 other street tattoo artists usually ask for Rp 35,000 for an ordinary size permanent tattoo.

Hundreds of attractive body painting designs as well as several old tattoo magazines are laid out on the sidewalk of Jl. Malioboro, with plastic mats covering the ground.

"Growing up and having tattoos when I entered senior high school was what I dreamt of when I was at junior high school," said Lusi, a first-year student at a senior high school in Yogyakarta, as her face grimaced in pain as Angger started his work with his simple, home-made tattoo needle.

Some passersby, including a couple of foreign tourists, stopped for a moment to watch the tattooing process, which is usually only to be seen in indoor tattoo studios.

"Mister! Mister! You want (to have) tattoo, too? It's cheap. Miss! You want tattoo?" Jacko, Angger's friend, shouted aggressively trying to woo the tourists, who only shook their heads several times before leaving.

A few minutes later and Jacko was busy himself tattooing the back of a youth whose entire body was almost fully covered with tattoos. The youth is a street singer who begs for money at the crossroads in front of Yogyakarta's post office. Jacko tattooed the boy for free as he had no customers at the time.

So far, Angger was the only tattoo artist who had made any money that day. It took around an hour and a half for him to complete two tattoos on Lusi's shoulders.

"Many people like tribal patterns like what I just did on her shoulders," explained Angger, a self-taught tattoo artist.

The sum of Rp 60,000 paid by Lusi was enough for the day. Some Rp 35,000 of Angger's money was used to buy two bottles of cheap alcohol, which Angger and some other street boys drank on the sidewalk of Jl. Malioboro before sunset. The remaining Rp 25,000 went on food and the alcohol used to sterilize tattoo needles.

"The booze will make the night warmer and help us sleep better," Angger said, adding that most of the street tattoo artists had nowhere to call home except for a base in Kampong Gondomanan that they shared with dozens of other street boys. The base belongs to a non-governmental organization that focuses its work on homeless children.

Angger himself is a native of Lampung. He drifted to Yogyakarta in 1995 when he was a second year student of a senior high school, escaping from a broken home. His parents were divorced.

He learned his tattooing skills on the streets from anyone willing to teach him, including a famous tattoo artist in Yogyakarta, Atonk, whose studio is located in Kampong Sosrowijayan.

Before starting out as a tattoo artist in 1999, he was a painter who made money by drawing sketches of passersby who wanted to have their portraits drawn in front of Malioboro Mall.

"Drawing portraits is no longer good business since the economic crisis," Angger said.

Compared to the works of a high-class tattoo artist, which cost at least Rp 250,000 per tattoo, Angger's work is none the worse in terms of subtlety, despite the humble device he uses.

Business for street tattoo artists is not always bad. Every Sunday, at least five visitors, mostly senior high school students spending their vacations in the city, come to them to get temporary tattoos, which cost only Rp 10,000 each.

"There are more kids who want temporary tattoos when the school vacations come around," Angger said.