Tag Archives: Ta moko

Tā Moko Undergoing Unprecedented Renaissance

Tā Moko Undergoing Unprecedented Renaissance

The traditional art of Māori tattooing, known as tā moko, was at risk of total extinction after New Zealand’s brutal colonial-era efforts to suppress indigenous culture. But 50 years later, tā moko is far…

Māori Increasingly Asserting Identity with Tā moko

Māori Increasingly Asserting Identity with Tā moko

Gary Harding’s body is a living testimony to his heritage. Tā moko, a cultural tattoo artwork, adorns Harding’s face and body, a visualisation of his Māori whakapapa or genealogy, his role in the community…

New Zealand Artwork That Really Makes Its Mark

New Zealand Artwork That Really Makes Its Mark

Tā moko is the traditional Māori art of marking the skin. It is very different from a tattoo and is considered a great cultural privilege. Australia’s National Gallery’s curator, Pacific Arts, Crispin Howarth, says,…

Tā moko Artist Taryn Beri Shares Capital Tips

Tā moko Artist Taryn Beri Shares Capital Tips

Taryn Beri is an independent tā moko practitioner in Wellington and a member of the Ngāti Toarangatira tribe. Beri shares the best sights, bites, and art in the capital city…

Ta Moko – Traditional Maori Face and Body Tattoos

Ta Moko – Traditional Maori Face and Body Tattoos

The Daily Mail has featured a number of black and white photos, which were taken by possibly the first New Zealand female professional photographer  Elizabeth Pulman and depict “how far…

Mapping Our Souls

Mapping Our Souls

Titahi Bay-based tattoo artist Mark Kopua, 52, explains the meaning of t? moko in an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allegemeine. “I don’t have to say who I am … you can read it in…

Maintaining meaning

Maintaining meaning

Each year, Whakatane ta moko artist Rangi Kipa has some 2 clients fly into the country from the UK or Europe eager to make a statement with a unique Maori tattoo. Kipa says the…

Masterpieces in Ink

Masterpieces in Ink

Ta moko is more than aesthetics, it is writes the Los Angeles Times, a solemn declaration of Maori identity and dignity. With a little ink, some stinging pain and a helping hand from the…

Skin Deep

Skin Deep

Ta moko retrospectively finds its way into an icon of colonialism: the museum. The Skin Deep exhibition at Britain’s National Maritime Museum, traces the development and diversity of tattoo over the last two…

Maori Mystique

Maori Mystique

The Washington Post’s Kid’s Section “Web@tlas” spotlights Australia and New Zealand, inviting readers to “take a peek into the world of the Maori – including the intricate tattoos that “they’re known for” by linking…