Issued on: 29/07/2022 – 17:33
The traditional art of Māori tattooing, known as tā moko, was in danger of extinction after New Zealand’s brutal attempts to suppress indigenous culture during the colonial era. But 50 years later, tā moko is far from gone – it has undergone an unprecedented renaissance. Our observer, Mokonui-a-rangi Smith, told us that this regeneration has been hard-fought and provides a way to revive and “decolonize” Maori culture.
In Māori culture, receiving tā moko (the permanent marking or ‘tattoo’ as traditionally practiced by the indigenous people of New Zealand) represents an important milestone between childhood and adulthood. Aside from traditionally signaling rank and status, the practice was also used to make a person more attractive to the opposite sex. Men generally wore moko on their faces, buttocks (raperape) and thighs (puhoro), while women usually wore moko on their lips (kauwae) and chin.
‘Māori people try to reclaim and decolonize sense of identity’
Mokonui-a-rangi Smith works by hand with the traditional Māori and Polynesian hand tools known as Uhi in his Auckland studio. He is one of the few practitioners to revive the art in New Zealand, after decades of oppression by British settlers.
It is an art form that was in danger of being lost. In the 1900s it was much discouraged and the number of practitioners decreased significantly. Within a generation, it is almost completely gone. I’m part of a Māori revival attempt, trying to get back what our ancestors did.
I’ve been doing this for seven years and in the early years my clientele was very low. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, tourism has disappeared and somehow the Māori people have woken up and wanted to learn more about their ancestors and their culture. They have had time to do the research.
It really made sense to work with Māori people who, through tā moko, are trying to reclaim and decolonize a sense of identity. They try to heal trauma that stems from shame because they don’t know much about their culture or the language, for example.
‘People who wear tā moko in public places have enhanced a sense of normalcy’
As an increasing number of English settlers arrived in New Zealand from the late 18th century onwards, the prevalence of tā-moko declined. Māori were shamed for wearing moko to the crown, and there was a period when tattooists were not allowed to practice their art.
Mokonui-a-rangi Smith told us that public figures continued to get moko for a long time, but hid it under their clothes because of the stigma. However, in current New Zealand society, more and more public figures are wearing moko on more visible parts of their bodies.
In 2016, New Zealand politician Nanaia Mahuta received a facial moko. Meanwhile, in 2021, Māori journalist Oriini Kaipara became the first person with traditional facial markings to present a primetime news program on New Zealand national television.
An increasing number of politicians and people in the public sphere are wearing tā moko, reinforcing a sense of normalcy that we have been working on for the past 40 years. Our hope is to have equality and equal representation and to represent ourselves in a way that is true to us. It started with leaders wearing tā moko under their clothes, so they wore it but didn’t show it publicly.
So I think it’s very important for these leaders to wear tā-moko and show their pride in parliament, on TV and in responsible spaces, to normalize our culture and our traditions. It also serves to show people that there are different ways to experience your culture. There are different ways of looking at beauty, which is very important in an increasingly globalized and homogenized world.
‘There are heightened sensitivities around handing out elements of our culture’
Interest in New Zealand’s indigenous tattoos is growing not only among the Māori, but also among non-indigenous people. To reconcile the demand for Māori designs in a culturally sensitive way, Mokonui-a-rangi Smith uses “Māori-flavored” tattoos that can be applied anywhere, for any reason, and on anyone, as opposed to using moko with a sacred meaning .
It is a constant negotiation because the political landscape is constantly changing. In the 18th and 19th centuries, New Zealand was a very Maori country, its leaders had sovereignty over their land and their people. At that time, tattooing foreigners was not a problem as it was an exciting way to bring these foreigners into our souls and into our world.
The climate is very different now. Foreign powers have set up a whole structure and called this country New Zealand. There are now heightened sensitivities around spreading elements of our culture that are sacred to us.
So I do my best to adapt to this and avoid giving some of our patterns that are more responsible and holier. I give them Māori flavored tattoos, but those are less loaded with meaning – meaning they wouldn’t necessarily understand.
‘Younger generations are going to push boundaries’
The revival of tā moko reflects the general revival of Māori language and culture in what has been called the “Māori Renaissance.”
I am part of the first generation that grew up benefiting from the fruits of our parents’ protests and hard work to fully express our culture. We are now retaking this culture that was lost for so long. For some people they find this through language, for others it’s storytelling or medicine or performing arts. For me it is tā moko.
New Zealand’s culture is changing very quickly, we have turned a corner and the integration of the Māori world into a predominantly white New Zealand has accelerated. It’s really exciting. Mainstream TV and radio have woken up and include the Maori language in their bulletins, for example. These little ways of integrating our culture into the mainstream landscape have made everyone very excited about the future.
It’s clearly still tentative and there’s still a lot of work to be done, but younger generations will continue to push the boundaries.
In June 2021, 875,300 people in New Zealand identified as Māori, accounting for 17 percent of the national population, according to government figures. They are the second largest ethnic group in New Zealand, after European New Zealanders (“Pākenhā”).
While the practice of moko is increasingly widespread, those who wear tā moko are still subject to discrimination or racial abuse. Last year, a petition was launched to formally prohibit discrimination against people with moko.