What would traditional Iban tattoos look like in dance form?

Drawing inspiration from traditional tattoos, young Iban dancer Andrew Igai Jamu has choreographed The Vanishing Ink, about the long-established tattoos of his community in Pakan, Sarawak. Photo: Andrew Igai Jamu

For the indigenous people, spirits embody everything and often, they consult them as a guide to designing tattoos.

Back then, these blue-black tattoos were inked in with soot or powdered charcoal, substances thought to ward off malevolent spirits. Some groups spike their pigment with charms – a ground-up piece of a meteorite or shard of animal bone – to make their tattoos even more powerful.