Transcript
In Papua New Guinea, the art form belongs to women, and Julia Mage'au Gray says it's always been that way.
"In Melanesia, it's a woman's practice and women mark women. They mark their daughters, their nieces. It's always in the family as such but it's also a visual language, you show your connection and where you come from."
And she says families have their own distinctive markings.
"In the central Province, the women mark, and so you can tell, depending on the design and how it's placed, where they are from, really really clear and cultural identifiers."
Julia Mage'au Gray says it can be male dominated whether it's Polynesian cultural or normal mainstream culture with the tattoo industry.
But she says things are changing and women are stepping up and moving into that space.
"Yeah, moving into that space and marking our women with old knowledge and old thinking and using that as a tool to empower our women and therefore our children, and everyone that comes after us. Yeah, it's changing, it's definitely changing."
Tyla Vaeau, from Samoa, has made her entry into tatau.
"That wasn't the end goal to move into that space but it's where my work has led to. With a traditional tatau, it's not something that you just pick up yourself, there are Tatau families, so going through the process of seeking permission and working Tufuga family has made all the difference. For them to be so open with me, is such an honour."
She says at an event in Samoa last year, people didn't think she was the tatau artist.
"They assume I am the wife of someone, when I say I'm a tatau artist and that's I'm working with traditional tools, they are surprised but they then understand my Gafa and find out where I'm from and who I'm working with, and then it's been a supportive response, it's been really good."
Tyla Vaeau says she has had a lot of interest from New Zealand and Australian born women who are trying to reconnect with their Samoan heritage.
Pip Hartley, of Ngāti Tūwharetoa, is a trained Ta Moko artist and works both in both traditional and contemporary Ta Moko and Polynesian tatau.
She says when people come to her to be marked, looking at their Whakapapa is just one aspect of the process she goes through.
"Another important aspect of it is really questioning what their intention is for the piece, I think the speaks a lot to how everything flows, from there on. I always ask them, what's so significant to you that you want to represent for the rest of your life and be a constant reminder to you."
Pip Hartley says there are also a lot of young people wanting to reclaim their culture.
"There's a lot more young people, like 16, 17, 18 asking their parents to get Moko, to represent their whanau and that's really important for them."
Luisa Tora is part of the Veiqia Project, a Fijian female collective made up of artists, curators, researchers and academics based in Australia, Hawaii, and New Zealand.
The collective is inspired by the traditional practice of Fijian female tattooing and uses exhibitions, research and workshops to invite women on a journey of artistic and cultural discovery.
Veiqia, Fijian female tattoo, was a practice that was stopped from around the mid-19th century due to Christianity and colonisation, but it was conducted in secrecy up to the early 20th century.
Luisa Tora says there's a groundswell now for women to receive their marks which is really exciting but finding a woman to be a marker is not always easy.
"... is the name of the hereditary mark maker in Fiji. We are always asking people, one, would you be interested in being marked, and two, would you be interested in picking up the tools, we can help provide you with the mentoring from our own elders but at the moment, I know there is one woman interested in it."
