Bali is celebrating hosting its first open-scale tattoo festival in Jembrana Regency this weekend. The Negaroa Tattoo Festival (NTF) 2026 brought together some of Indonesia’s most esteemed tattoo artists to highlight the island’s cultural heritage in a whole new way.
Jembrana Regency, in West Bali, typically sees less tourism than many areas of the central south.
Leaders in Bali are looking to find a way to encourage more people, both domestic tourists and international visitors, to explore the region, and so this weekend’s Negaroa Tattoo Festival (NTF) 2026 has been deemed a success on multiple levels. Jembrana Regency is perhaps best known to tourists as the gateway to West Bali National Park.
The Deputy Regent of Jembrana, I Gede Ngurah Patriana Krisna, praised the festival as a milestone in the development of tattoo art in West Bali.
He shared his support that the event has helped transform the long-held stigma surrounding tattoos into a valuable work of art. The festival was founded by I Dewa Bagus Putu Prima, founder of Ma Tattoo Bali from Yehkuning Village.
The festival programme brought together a wide range of artistic communities from around the province. The festival’s main event was the tattoo competition, but programming also included community booths, a local artisan market, live music, talk shows, and photo and video reel competitions.
The event also ran a beach clean-up effort at Pengambengan Beach and a bicycle contest with two categories: original parts & paint and good-looking restoration. On the morning of day two of the festival, the team organised a 6-kilometer fun run in collaboration with the Jembrana Kalcer Runners community.
Deputy Regent Ipat told reporters, “Previously, tattoos were synonymous with criminals, but now they’re art. They even generate tremendous economic value, especially since many customers come from outside the region.”
Adding “Yes, we hope this is the first time, and we can continue this trend in the years to come. So, as I said earlier, practicing often, performing often, and not being nervous will ultimately result in even better artistic value in the future. Having more clients from abroad will certainly have a positive impact on the local economy.”
Festival founder Prima told reporters, “We’re actually a small and medium-sized enterprise. So, in one tattoo studio, there can be designers, videographers, photographers, and even administrators.”
“So, we’re also part of a small and medium-sized enterprise that creates jobs and contributes to the economy.”
He added, “Around 30 percent of tattoo artists in Denpasar and Badung are from Jembrana. Many have even traveled as far as Australia and Europe. We really hope it can continue. This is our first session here, so we want to get started, and hopefully, we’ll get positive feedback from our community members and the public.”
“This will motivate us to say, ‘Let’s do it again for a second, third, and so on.’ We also want to collaborate with other community members.”
Bali is one of the leading destinations in Southeast Asia for tattoo tourism. We’ve all heard of medical tourism, where patients travel around the world to see better and often more affordable treatment; well, the same is true for tattoos.
Bali is home to dozens of world-class tattoo studios, and as is evident by the Negaroa Tattoo Festival, the tattoo community is increasingly accepted and the art form increasingly appreciated.
Tourists traveling to Bali for tattoos often search for studios in popular resort areas like Kuta and Legian, but as festival founder Prima has suggested, incredible artists can be found all across the province. Tourists traveling to Bali for tattoo work are encouraged to do thorough research before making their choice of artist.
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