Nas Academy's Whang-Od course goes offline—deemed a scam by tattoo legend's grandniece

The Nas Academy course that features traditional tattooing by Whang-Od has been taken down after the artist's grandniece deemed it to be a scam.

No contracts signed between Nas Academy and Whang-Od?

No more Whang-od course from Nas Academy

Nas Academy is an online learning platform founded by Nuseir Yassin better known as Nas Daily. The course page previously stated that Whang-Od is set to "reveal all the rituals, tools, and methods for making traditional tattoos". All in the price of PHP 750.

However, Grace Palicas, the grandniece of Whang-Od, posted on Facebook that her grandmother did not sign any contract to do lessons for Nas Academy. She believes that this is taking advantage of our culture and a huge disrespect towards the legacy of Apo Whang-Od and the ButBot tribe.

She also stated, in a now-deleted post, that she believes that Nas Daily's intention of spreading awareness about the art and culture may be good. It was only smeared by the fact that it was monetized without their consent.

Apo Whang-Od is considered a cultural treasure by Filipinos. Now 104 years old, she received the Dangal ng Haraya award by the NCCA back in 2018. She was also featured in a myriad of documentaries and stories worldwide. Grace was chosen by the legend to pass on the art of traditional tattoos.

Nas Academy was announced back in June. 12 Filipino creators including Jessica Soho, Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray, Erwan Heussaff, Carlo Ople, and wedding videographer Jason Magbanue was asked to share their knowledge and expertise on the academy.

Update: Nas Daily has released a statement regarding this issue. In his statement, Nas Daily expressed his sadness that "false information" about Nas Academy's dealings with tattoo legend Apo Whang-Od. Attached in the Facebook post is a video where Whang-Od was seen to be signing documents that are allegedly related to Nas Academy. The full statement can be read here.

NCIP: Apo Whang-od did not give her consent to teach tattooing at Nas Academy

What do you guys think?

Via: Rappler