Indonesia— Tattoo scenes & cities

On the Mentawai Islands, off West Sumatra, the traditional tattoo, the titi, is received around 16 or 17, the age for working or marrying, and grows richer over the years. The first motif is often an outrigger canoe, a symbol of balance, then a sago tree on the back, and finally a crocodile, spirit of the river.

In 1954, a decree banning animist religions effectively abolished Mentawai tattooing, and under the New Order being tattooed meant being taken for a thug. Among the Dayak Iban of West Kalimantan, motifs are free: men who went to seek their fortune in Malaysia brought back a tattooed aeroplane, like a journal written on the skin.