If you go to the tribal villages of the Ziro valley, Arunachal Pradesh, India, you might still find some old women from the Apatani tribe with their faces tattooed.

Back in the days, Men from other tribes - 'tribal raiders' - started abducting and forcefully marrying these women. The face tattoos and nose plugs were thus introduced to prevent abductions and were not beauty standards in themselves, but instead were meant to cover up the beauty and make women unattractive to the tribal raiders.

While the Indian government had put a ban to this in the 1970s (which is the reason young women with tattoos on their faces aren’t seen in urban areas anymore), the practice lives on in the interiors, and in as yet untouched parts of the country.

This piece is created for an Open Collab with Artwork by both artists, Simran Wahan and Art piece named "Let Yourself Go" by Mpozzecco.