A special exhibition on Paiwan Aboriginal tattoos, images and tools from the Aboriginal Cultural Museum in Pingtung County’s Laiyi Township (來義) is on display at the Indigenous Culture Museum of Tainan.
This is the first time that the museum has agreed to lending such assets for an outside exhibition.
The museum said the nationwide Paiwan population is 96,000, making them the second-largest Aboriginal group.
Photo: Hung Jui-chin, Taipei Times
In Pingtung County and Tainan, the Paiwan people make up the biggest Aboriginal populations.
The art of tattooing is a precious cultural asset for the Paiwan people, the museum said, adding that it had once been the primary method determining social rank and played an important part in passing on culture.
Every tattoo artist learned the stories and cultural import of each image and symbol to pass it on, the museum said.
Photo: Hung Jui-chin, Taipei Times
However, despite Laiyi Township hosting the highest number of tattoo artists, the artists are succumbing to age, the museum added.
Tainan City Government Ethnic Affairs Commission Director-General Wang Chih-min (汪志敏) said the city is collaborating with the museum on the exhibition of vuvu tattoos.
In the Paiwan language, vuvu means grandmother.
While some tattoos of Paiwan elders can be seen only in photographs, the city government said it hoped to spread awareness of the stories and the meanings behind the tattoos.
Museum tour guide Chen Wen-shan (陳文山) said that traditionally, all Paiwan tattoos were created with thin needles and ash in a process far more painful than modern tattooing.
The exhibition at the Indigenous Culture Museum is set to run through June 28 before heading to the Indigenous People’s Museum in Tainan’s Yongkang District (永康), where it is to run from July 4 to Aug. 2, city officials said.
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