Brave faces show how art can get under your skin | Manawatu-Wanganui News | Local News in Manawatu-Wanganui

It's important for people to see the touring ta moko exhibition at Wanganui's Sarjeant Gallery, a Whanganui artist says.

Serena Giovanna Stevenson's photographs and film of six individuals receiving traditional Maori facial tattoos is called Face Value. It's at the Sarjeant until August 2.

Riki Waitokia started learning the art of ta moko at the age of eight, from his father. He's now a full-time ta moko artist who travels the country.

He said the process of getting a traditional tattoo was long and complex. It started with getting permission from elders: "respected people who have information and knowledge that connects to you".

The designs showed the individual's genealogy, status, position within the family, sex, iwi and hapu. And they could bring in individual attributes, past events or talents.
"The simplest cut can mean many things."

Getting the information, planning and drawing the design could take days.

The actual tattooing was quicker. A full facial tattoo took about a day, though some people couldn't tolerate the pain and had to stop and start.

Waitokia said the traditional chisel of stone or bone was less painful than the modern professional tattoo gun. It also had "more mana than a cold steel chisel".

There was always a supporter there during a tattoo session, to provide comfort and keep the subject's skin clean and moist. Often the supporter was a woman, but not always.

Some people felt overwhelmed with the finished product.

It could give them direction in life, and provide the symbolic protection of the ancestors depicted.  It was a source of pride, showing the wearer had great character, and it could also be a healing.

On the lighter side, ta moko could be part of flirtation, worn like makeup to make people more desirable.

Waitokia said he had the puhoro, full leg tattoos. When he travelled in the Pacific, people recognised them as Maori.

"I was carrying not only a part of my family, but also Aotearoa. Tahitians and Samoans knew I was from New Zealand. That in itself was aroha."

It was good that the art of ta moko was being revived, he said.

"It's no longer asleep. It's been awakened."