So you know about Mo Farah, but have you heard about Mo Naga? Maybe it’s time you did. This visionary tattoo artist from the Northeast is promoting the dying tribal way of inking one’s skin that was once common in the region.
The first thing that strikes one about Mo (27) is his confidence. Through his studio Headhunters’ Ink in Guwahati, Mo has been striving to provide safe, hygienic and international standards of tattooing in the Northeast. “The tattoo industry is booming in India. Northeast should be a part of this welcome change. The people here are gifted with many talents and should be given a chance to become real professionals,” says Mo.
His Headhunters’ Ink Tattoo School is not only the first official tattoo training institute in Northeast India, it is also the biggest in India with world class facilities. Here, Mo has put his seven years of experience in tattooing to use and is promoting tribal tattoo art of the region, which he says is his way of empowering the indigenous community.
Mo spent his early childhood in Manipur and then grew up in Delhi and Guwahati. He graduated from NIFT-Hyderabad, before embarking on his tattooing career. Drawing inspiration from nature and man, he lives and breathes art, design and music. “I don’t know about others, but for me, it was a smooth transition from fashion designing to tattooing. Along the way I faced ups and downs, but in the end it was all worth it. Now I design at a more personal level,” he says.
What makes Mo unique is the fact that he has been constantly researching traditional tattooing techniques of India. With the latest equipment and modern approach to executing traditional designs, he aims to change the mindset about tattoos. “I think if youngsters tattoo responsibly, it will help a lot. The designs and inspiration of the tattoos that they see are nowhere related to the culture or the life they lead. So, they see tattoo as a foreign culture, which is wrong. If we can develop more tattoo designs inspired by our inherent art and culture, tattooing will definitely become more meaningful and more acceptable to everyone,” says the man who has been tattooing for years but doesn’t have one himself.
From being a mark of identification to a form of personal expression, tattooing has come a long way. On a recent research trip into remote Nagaland, Mo got an opportunity to meet some tattooed tribals and spent a lot of time listening to their stories. “In olden days, tribal people had strict patterns and designs marking stages of life. Tattoos were also used to mark an individual’s success and achievements and social status. People from a particular tribe would sport the same designs. The tattoo was also believed to help the soul in afterlife. These days, the significance of tattoo is changing. Unlike the tribal Yakuza warriors or other cults, nowadays tattoos have become a matter of personal aesthetic rather than a mark to show belongingness,” he says, adding how wrong that is.
Being driven by fashion is only one of the many wrong reasons why people get inked. For Mo, peer pressure is one of the wrong reasons why people get tattoos and that kills the very meaning behind the art form. That is why Mo always tattoos youngsters under adult supervision. “No matter how carefully you select your design, like our life’s decisions, this one’s irreversible,” he says. Thus, choose wisely is his advice.