Song of the Goddess-Twins: A Review of Tatau: Sāmoan Tattooing and Photography

Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington

Review by Tusiata Avia for Pantograph Punch 28 May 2020

Tatau was once the precious art of Samoan women, but it's now an artform dominated by men. Tusiata Avia explores the Tatau exhibition at Te Papa to find herself there.

Sāmoan tatau began with women. Two women. Taema and Tilafaiga, the goddess-twins who swam to Fiji to learn the art of tatau. When they returned to Sāmoa as the first tufuga ta tatau (master tattooists) they had a lot on their minds: tatau was for women, not for men. To help them remember this instruction, they created a song as an aide memoire. But things happen. On the long swim back to Sāmoa, and after a deep dive to a clam shell at the bottom of the ocean, the song got muddled: Tattoo the men, not the women. Tatau the men, not the women. And so tatau – the pe’a in particular – became the mark of men. And all tufuga ta tatau have since been men.

Curated by Sean Mallon, Tatau is a photography exhibition of Sāmoan tatau practices. Mallon is also co-author of the stunning book Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing (Te Papa Press, 2018) and is a longtime scholar and devotee of tatau. He has created this vā for us to traverse. Tatau showcases work by four artists: Mark Adams, Greg Semu, John Agcaoili and Angela Tiatia.

Vā in Sāmoan means space. Not space as emptiness but space as relational. To me, vā is all things that co-exist: between everyone and everything, there is relationship.

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