Fifteen years after having engraved Filip Leu's throat, Ernesto Kalum walked his own path, from international conventions to ethnological research, keeping out of fads and the mundane. For the local boy, Borneo's Iban culture is breathing its last breaths. However, he will defend it until the end, as he has done for twenty years. We met him in the Borneo Headhunters Tattoo Studio, his headquarter in Kuching.
Born Iban in Sibu 45 years ago, the civil servant's son was passionate about tattoos since he was twenty. " I wanted to get a tattoo but there was only one shop, specialised in old school (celui de Yeo, pp-). I started to tattoo myself, my first piece is this Superman logo on my calf." In 1998, after some experiences in the banking sector in London and the naval industry in Singapore, he decided to open a studio: "There was no future for tattooing. I prayed every day that at least one client would come through the door and give me something to do. I spent my days drawing. It was very difficult for a young man from a tribal minority to shape his life in Sarawak. So I fled my country because there were no opportunities. »
Two months after he had opened, he went back to Wolverhampton, a small town near Birmingham, where he obtained a degree in law a few years earlier. He was used to tattooing his mates for fun against beer and cigarettes. He finally exploited his gift for drawing and started his professional career as a guest at Spikes Tattoo & Piercing. He nicked rock'n'roll stuff, in the Mötley Crue inspiration, but his work on the Iban patterns he brought with him showed some real graft.
He stayed in Wolverhampton for a year, and cherishes the memory of a Mötorhead concert for a ten pounds ticket. He then applied for over 150 conventions. Only one answered, the one in Lausanne in 1999.
"I met them all then. Tin-Tin, Paul Booth, the Leu family... I thought that Filip was a musician, he looked like the Aerosmith's guitarist. I was innocent, I didn't know anything about the big names." He made friends with Bit Schoenenberger, alias Sailor Bit, and settled in the Swiss city for a year to work at Ethno Tattoo, in the shop of the guy who became his best friend.
He tattooed more and more Iban patterns, whose rise was favoured by the revival of tribal style, but always with a machine. One day Felix Leu arrived behind him as he was tattooing a client. "He took the machine from my hands and threw it in the bin, without saying anything, and he left." Ernesto, who possessed the art but not the method for everything to make sense, went back to the jungle. "I had to understand my own culture, the very culture that my grand-father was not allowed to tell me about. At the time, the trend was to sweep away the past, to stop talking about these old-fashioned things, get a degree and find a modern job. I did the research myself with the elders who accepted to help me in spite of the pressure they were under. »
When he came back to the city, he inaugurated his first hand-tapping. "It lasted a long time and the volunteer suffered a lot but the pattern was perfect. I was very proud." Drawing on his experience, he went back to work at Ethno Tattoo in the year 2000. The golden occasion was not long awaited. " Filip Leu came, he looked at the images of the old tattooed Ibans that I always carried with me and he said to me "So you're going to tattoo me with this, right?" Ernesto did not feel ready to achieve what Filip urged him to do: the Iban scorpion on the throat, the same tattoo that his mother Loretta wears, done by his father Felix. Seeing his hesitation Sailor Bit did not beat about the bush: "If you do this tattoo for him, it will change your life. »
Felix wanted his son to be tattooed at the 34, the mythical headquarters of the Leu family on Lausanne's central street ." The former shop, it was a special place. Miki Vialetto was here, Felix Leu was here, everyone was here. It was really important for Filip to wear this piece and that it be applied in a traditional way. I really gave 120% of myself during these hours of work. It was a very spiritual moment." The day after, his career jumped and he now prays for his agenda to get lighter. "Everything changed. Everybody wanted me to tattoo them. In two weeks, I booked a year of appointments."
During those golden years, he rubbed shoulders with those who will become his main inspirations, the world figures who elevated tattoo to the rank of arts: Filip Leu (Switzerland), Paulo Suluape (Samoa), Leo Zulueta (United-States), Roberto Hernandez (Spain), Bit Schoenenberger (Switzerland), Horiyoshi III (Japan)...
Ernesto talks about his call with deep respect: "Tattooing has been a lucky way for me to discover the world, in return we have to help preserve the reputation of tattooing".
In 2003, he felt that he had to come back to Kuching." I was always on the road, I didn't have the feeling of belonging to such or such place. My home was where I was happy." Isolated on his island, he also hoped to better control the crowd of clients. A waste of time, the shop was always full to breaking point, so he closed his door. He only tattooed on appointment, with a rhythm that allowed him to transmit a positive energy to each of his clients. His clientele was made up by 40% of collectors, 20% of tourists and 40% of locals.
Since 2008, he is assisted by 31 year old Robinson Unau. An architect and Ernesto's client, he quit his job to follow him. Ernesto chose him for his spirit. "It's hard to find people with a soul nowadays". But even the one who became his right-hand man still tattoos with a machine. "He feels he has to go in this direction and tattoo by hand but he doesn't feel ready to do so. We are working on it! »
Ernesto is dedicated to sharing his knowledge: as a speaker at Sarawak's museum, a counsellor in movie productions that comprise parts of the Iban culture, like the movie The Sleeping Dictionary, and as a producer of traditional music. He organised a first event in May 2002 in the cultural village of Sarawak, The International Borneo Tattoo Convention, and a second convention in 2007. "I just want people to be interested and that they know who they are and what they do. My community is right here but nobody listens, everybody wants to make money. I can only give some information to a few people, I am realistic."
He is not very optimistic about the survival of his culture, severely torn by years, forced Christianization and frantic globalisation. "Iban culture died with the generation of my parents. I still respect ancestral beliefs, but I got tattooed when it was already over. I am a museum specimen. We do not get tattooed to inscribe ourselves in the present, which is totally disconnected, but rather to reconnect with our roots. When there is nothing spiritual or religious left, in these conditions it is easy for a culture to simply disappear. Without culture, who are you? »
Without culture, what do tattoos represent? "People only want rock'n'roll. And you will always loose against rock'n'roll. In the past years, even the Iban tattoo has become rock'n'roll, and has lost a lot of its soul. We can't just ink anything anyhow, we have to keep parts of the original spirit. Ibans under 30-35 don't know much about their culture. All this knowledge disappears, in favor of TV sizes, car brands, or professional status and money in your bank account. It's a pity that it is such a waste, that we don't fight a bit more to keep some identity alive. The deletion process of aboriginal cultures is very brutal. »
To him, the preservation of a part of the culture is paradoxically intertwined with its opening to the world. "If I hadn't tattooed outside of this country, and hadn't gone to conventions abroad, people here would never have been interested in Iban tattoos. It's MTV's theory. It has to come out, to have success outside, and to come back, and it will be popular again... For me, it is not a contradiction that Iban patterns are tattooed by foreigners on foreigners. The Leu family drew inspiration from Iban culture for their floral patterns and that is very good. Iban means 'being human'. If the person is clear about their life's path, informed of the reason why they want this tattoo, no problem, I'll tell their story on their skin. »
Ernesto and Robin will be at the Paris international convention ("Mondial du tatouage") like every year since 2012. In the meantime Ernesto enjoys his daily life in his peace haven. Braided mattresses on the walls and on the floor, aligned books and VHS tapes, pictures of his path alongside the big names of tattoo, original drawings, arts and crafts from Borneo ...his studio is the result of a whole life that he has patiently built. But his city is changing, more "lounge" bars, more traffic, more air conditioned malls. Ernesto is starting to think about retirement. "I am giving myself another eight to ten years in the job, and I'll retreat in the jungle, in my other house." He also has his throat to cover, which he leaves to Filip Leu of course, when the time will be right.
http://www.borneoheadhunter.com/
Ernesto made a book on the Iban tattoos. Here are a few examples.
Texts : Laure Siegel Photos : P-Mod
