Tattooing the president: How Yumbel Góngora came to work on Boric's skin

When Gabriel Boric was elected President of Chile, the foreign press had a feast highlighting some of the most striking characteristics of the still deputy. He talked about his youth; of his political career forged in the streets -especially leading the student movement of 2011-; and, of course, that he would be the first Latin American president with visible tattoos.

From what is known, Gabriel Boric has four tattoos on his skin. The first to be printed was that kind of black ring that adorns his right arm, almost at elbow height. The other three escape the minimalist design, and are related to the territory that has become a true trademark of the future president: his native Magallanes.

In addition to sharing a link with that southern region, Boric's last three tattoos have another point in common: they were made by local artist Yumbel Góngora, who met the politician in 2014, when no one projected that, in less than a decade, it would end in La Moneda.

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The name Yumbel can mean many things. If it is interpreted based on Araucanian poetic words, it is read as “dawn light”, or “rising sun”. But the mother of this tattoo artist, perhaps anticipating her daughter's future trade, stuck with the definition of "shimmering rainbow."

Yumbel Góngora (34) was born in the heart of Lima, the capital of Peru. In the late 1980s, in the midst of an uncertain political environment, marked by the actions of the revolutionary group Sendero Luminoso and its tireless struggle against the State, Yumbel emigrated to Chile with his father, a Peruvian journalist, and his mother, a Chilean itinerant artist. It was not a simple landing. He remembers that, for his family, it was "difficult to make a living from art in post-dictatorship Chile."

The path that led Yumbel to enter the world of ink began during her school years, specifically at the Quinta Normal Experimental Artistic High School. A colleague of hers began to tattoo her peers, something that caught her attention. With it, her first design was made, an astromelia, a wild lily that she wears in full color on the inside of her forearm.

That first experience left an indelible mark on her, which crossed the border of her skin. “For me, there is always an introspection when you are enduring the physical pain of a tattoo. I liked that inner journey, and this intimacy with the person who is tattooing you,” she confesses.

Ella yumbel says that, although she could bring friends to tattoo them from the beginning -always under the watchful eye of Daniela-, she "had to study a lot". Her mentor gave her “photocopies of books from the Ministry of Health, with manuals on asepsis, antisepsis and handling of sharp material”, in addition to giving her some notions of color theory.

Two years later, her graduation came, at least on a symbolic level. Daniela told Yumbel to remove from her Facebook profile the label of "tattoo artist apprentice."

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The studio where Yumbel currently tattoos is next to Avenida Matta in Santiago, near the Irarrázaval metro. Past the front of an old house, camouflaged as any address in the sector, a doormat with a rainbow and the message "Welcome everyone" invites you to come in. Inside, in a room with pale walls where dozens of illustrations converted into tattoos hang, the artist receives her clients. The music plays slowly and, in the background, the fan fulfills its essential role, as a summer soundtrack.

The words on the doormat are not a coincidence. In that place, which she has occupied for a little over a year and a half, Yumbel seeks to install a "safe space". However, she points out that "there are clear political positions here: xenophobia, fatphobia and transphobia are not allowed." For the same reason, she says that her studio is also a “feminist and anti-fascist” space and that she, as a lesbian and part of the LGBTIQ+ community, wants “people to feel safe here. Make them feel comfortable."

The artist emphasizes the importance of this imprint, citing a series of funas that exist against tattoo artists who "ask you to take off more clothes than you need, or touch you more than necessary." Along these lines, he comments that “it is the space that I can provide so that people come to do something with their body, which is also a way of taking possession of their own body”, acknowledging that it is “a super vulnerable moment when you are feeling pain".

When trying to define her style, Yumbel identifies that her taste goes through “everything that is solid and colorful”. In the past, she explored tattoos only in black, but currently what she is captivated by is color. Of course, always with defined lines; and black, "very solid". “It comes a bit from the traditional gringo tattoo school. It has that structure,” she adds.

In her designs, she says that she likes to take the images and reduce them "almost to a symbol", to make them "more powerful". And as for her graphic influences, she mentions Japanese anime and manga. She cites the traditional Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon, but also other works by authors who play with horror themes.

She complements that look with what emanates from pre-Columbian arts, such as the Mexican Huichol culture. "They make super colorful looms that tell the stories of people's travels in peyote," with images of "flowers and animals." In addition, she really likes the school of the "Peruvian chicha poster", also very colorful.

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He met Gabriel Boric through a friend from Punta Arenas, with whom he shared the desire for comics and fanzines. He told Yumbel that he had a friend who was looking to get tattooed. The nearby Boric. He wrote to him by email, but "that time we did not finalize the tattoo, perhaps because of the dispersion of the new year". It was in that meanwhile that the black ring would have been made. “He told me: 'I couldn't stand it, I did it, but I want to do another one,'” recalls Yumbel.

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Then came a Magellan beech, in the chest. "That was simpler: he told me he wanted this tree, very Magellanic." They looked for photos, agreed on a design, and Yumbel tattooed him in 2016.

Boric, as a client, is "cool, he is talking all the time". He's not particularly fussy, but he does hurt her, something he demonstrates by letting out spontaneous “uh”. He didn't yell, "but he didn't act like a macho either, as if nothing was wrong with him," says Yumbel about one of his "special clients."

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"It's complicated," sums up Yumbel when asked if he shares the political vision of the president-elect. Before, she felt closer to his ideas, but that changed with the social outbreak and, particularly, when Boric signed the Peace Agreement on November 15, 2019, something that he considers a mistake.

“I have been told that it could have been worse if I did not sign, but I still feel that it was worse, and for many people who are in prison today, it is still worse (…). There could have been other agreements, ”she says, thinking of the people caught in the explosion who are still awaiting trial. “(In his government) they are going to have to take care of the prisoners. There were people who paid with their lives. This is a battle that was very popular, on the street, ”she opines.

Despite this point, Yumbel did vote for Boric in the presidential elections, because he shares the main guidelines of his program. Not so in the primaries of Approve Dignidad, where she leaned towards the letter of the Communist Party, Daniel Jadue.

Projecting forward, the tattoo artist believes that Boric “is very malleable. I don't know if he can take that much pressure. I feel that in the face of this extreme fascism that we are seeing, things must be clear and positions well defined. The half measures end up in these things, like the people who are imprisoned to this day for building the movement that finally brings them to power.”

Faced with the doubt about whether Boric will fulfill her campaign promises, Yumbel receives a certain "security" knowing that she is not alone, having "all these other people behind her with a project bigger than a president." In any case, there is a hint of mistrust: "Power is power, and power corrupts everyone."

By the way, she leaves a message for the next president. “I live brother, I live. I know that he has good intentions and good ideas, and that the team is there, but he doesn't have to lower his guard, and he doesn't have to be afraid of the fachos. Without fear, just like on the street”, she concludes.

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Gabriel Boric is, at this moment, synonymous with trending topic. Wherever he goes, he leaves a remarkable attention-grabbing trail. The most recent case is that of La Terraza, a central location in the capital where the man from Magellan was caught buying a Barros Luco with homemade avocado, tomato and extra mayo. Genesis of the now Boric Luco.

For Yumbel, the phenomenon was similar. People who had gotten tattoos with her write to her, almost proudly, that they couldn't believe that they had works on her body by the same tattoo artist as the president-elect. “They were cachiporreando”, and they shared it with her friends, says the artist, while she laughs.

Although that exposure did not mean a massive influx of clients, Yumbel believes that she did bring "plenty of movement" with the Instagram "algorithm". In addition, some contacts who were not decided whether to get tattooed, now open quickly to "yes, let's go".

Yumbel acknowledges that she has a fifth design in the pipeline that, in early 2021, she discussed with Boric. But, due to the presidential hustle and bustle, she does not expect it to materialize soon. The content of the tattoo is still secret, and sadly, The Clinic won't get the scoop. However, she advances that once again it is relative to Magellan. At the power of the wind.

Regardless, she would open the doors to the president-elect again if he wanted to get tattooed. The Carabineros that escort him, yes, "are waiting outside," she says, laughing, but very seriously.

Also read: Women4Sports, the innovative Chilean app that connects female athletes with brands and clubs

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