One of the most striking Māori visual arts is tattooing. Monochromatic, magnetic and graphic, tā moko is mesmerizing. When worn by kapa haka performers, it enhances their facial expressions. And in everyday life, it speaks to the pride one takes in one’s tribal identity. Traditional tā moko designs refer to whakapapa or lineage which can usually be traced all the way back to the ancestors who first settled in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Mark Kopua, a revered tohunga tā moko (expert in tā moko) who hails from Tolaga Bay, recently opened a studio in Titahi Bay, just up the coast from Wellington. I met his 26-year old female apprentice, Taryn Beri, for a chat.
The practice of tā moko nearly died out in the 20th century as tattoos were frowned upon by pākehā. Only a few women continued to wear the “kauae” on the chin. In the early 70s, Michael King, a scholar who wrote a book on Māori tattoo which may have helped to revive the practice, was able to find only 71 women with a chin tattoo during his research.
Nowadays, though, “a lot of women wear the kauae, says Taryn Beri. In their everyday life, being teachers, nurses, and lawyers… Particularly on the East Coast. It’s a lot more common there. If you go to the supermarket, you’re bound to cross at least one woman with a kaue. Part of that strength is what we’re trying to bring here, in this urban environment.” With the opening of Moko Ake studio in the Wellington region, “urban Māori have access to quality tā moko, an expression of where they come from.” Taryn, who doesn’t wear the kauae herself, wishes it to be considered as “normal”. Her mentor has a full facial tattoo, a rangi pāruhi.
She met Mark Kopua five years ago at the first Māori Market in Wellington. He was accompanied by his female apprentice: “I was intrigued because that was the first woman that I had seen doing tā moko”. They are now just over a handful in the country according to Taryn. Since she was herself passionate about tattooing, “Uncle Mark” gave her the advice to quit her job and move to Gisborne to attend Toihoukura, the School of Maori Visual Art & Design. After a year of studying, Uncle Mark called her and asked her to trial with him for two weeks in Tolaga Bay. “I’ve been with him ever since.”
Training entails a lot of observation, respecting the safety and hygiene requirements, drawing, but also learning the karakia (prayers) and waiata (chants) which are part of the ritual of tā moko.
The custom of carving the skin is shared in the South Pacific with Samoa, Tahiti and the Marquesas.
C’est presque un cliché : pour beaucoup, l’évocation de la culture māorie convoque à l’esprit l’image de tatouages à l’encre noire, élégamment graphiques, pointus et courbes à la fois, s’étalant sur le corps et le visage d’un indigène. Tā moko, c’est ainsi qu’on le nomme ici, est bien l’un des traits distinctifs de la civilisation précoloniale en Aotearoa Nouvelle-Zélande. Et dire que ce mode d’expression a failli périr avec le règne colonial, les Pākehā (Blancs) voyant ces parures, belles et féroces, d’un mauvais œil…
Au début des années 70, aucun homme n’en était paré et seules 71 femmes portaient les lèvres et le menton ornés du « te kauae ».
Aujourd’hui, tā moko, de nouveau répandu, a retrouvé sa force symbolique. Pour les Māoris, il est signe de fierté identitaire et d’appartenance à un clan : on peut y lire le whakapapa, la lignée, du sujet dans les volutes gravées dans la peau. Une sorte de mémento, donc.
Mark Kopua et son apprentie Taryn Beri viennent d’ouvrir un studio de tatouage à Titahi Bay, juste au Nord de Wellington. Je me suis rendue à son inauguration et ai eu le loisir de papoter avec Taryn, wahine tohunga tā moko (experte en tā moko) de 26 ans.
Leur ambition est de populariser tā moko en milieu urbain. Sur la côte Est, les tatouages sont si répandus qu’ils ne détonnent plus. « Au supermarché, on croise forcément au moins une femme portant te kauae », assure Taryn. Ce n’est pas encore le cas à Wellington. Et rares sont encore les hommes qui arborent le moko facial complet tel Mark Kopua...
