Irreverent, informed and downright eclectic books and reportage from Southeast Asia and beyond
Yesterday, Achan Neng Onnut, a Sak Yant tattoo master who supported the research of my new book Sacred Skin, the first English language publication on Thailand’s sacred tattoos, celebrated Wai Khru Day. During the course of the day, hundreds of his devotees visited his home in Bangkok to pay their respects to the master and [...]
A Bangkok Post review of my new book Sacred Skin - Thailand’s Spirit Tattoos, co-authored with photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat, has just been reposted on the Awesome Tattoos blog.
The review includes an interview with Aroon.
Photo taken at Bangkok International Airport.
Achan Neng Onnut, one of several tattoo masters featured in my recent book Sacred Skin, the first English language publication on Thailand’s spirit tattoos, Sak Yant, has posted a number of images of the shoot for two documentaries on the book.
Check out the images here.
Director Marc Eberle shot an 8 minute docu on Sacred [...]
Lard Yao Peter travels and tattoos. With long steel needles.
Peter learned his trade in Lard Yao Prison, also known as Klong Prem or the Bangkok Hilton, Thailand’s notoriously infamous jail, where he spent some time in the 1990s.
Spiegel TV has produced an interesting documentary on this extraordinary German. Obviously, the film is in German but [...]
Regional news round-up publication AsiaViews republishes a great review by Ezra Kyrill Erker, of my new book Sacred Skin, which originally ran in the Bangkok Post in July 2011.
“Sacred Skin Thailands Spirit Tattoos, the new two-hundred page, eight-by-ten-inch guide to sak yant protection tattoos by Tom Vater, with color photography by Aroon Thaewchatturat, is a beautifully organized, visual treat for both tattoo artists and collectors. Divided into easily navigable sections (Sak Yant, Master and Devotees, Sacred Images, [...]
2011 proved to be a mad, mad year for me and I’d like to thank all the people who supported me over the past twelve months. Living it all was almost too much. Here’s to the great times this year.
The publication of Sacred Skin, the first book on Thailand’s sacred tattoos, was a major milestone [...]
Sacred Skin has been reviewed by Scott Rothstein at the Art Found Out Blog.
“… Sacred Skin is an equal collaboration between author Tom Vater and photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat. The seductive and intimate images are as important to this book as the text. While Vater writes about Sak Yant, Thaewchatturat’s portraits show [...]
Roving Asia expert Ron Gluckman recently reviewed my book Sacred Skin for the Wall Street Journal. His review was shortened for the Journal publication but has now turned up in its full length glory on Ron Gluckman’s website.
The review also covers another soon to be published book on the same subject, by Bangkok journalists Joe [...]
Sacred Skin, my book on Thailand’s sacred tattoos, with images by Aroon Thaewchatturat, a current bestseller in Southeast Asia, has been reviewd on a blog named Free Tattoo Patterns Online who had this to say:
“…Vater has a long history of writing about the subcultures of this part of the world and talks with authority [...]