Museum at the sharp end

Live displays of torture in the name of art will number among the many attractions at a new tattoo museum opening in Wellington next month.

The museum, in the Underground Arts building in the suburb of Te Aro, will be the first of its kind in the South Pacific. It will showcase tattoo artefacts and images from New Zealand and around the world, including the largest tattoo machine.

Visitors will enter the dark, cavelike space through a marae-style entrance flanked by carved Easter Island statues. In the centre, a raised platform will feature a live display of traditional Samoan and Maori tattooing.

The blackened walls will be hung with photographs and images of tattoo art, while an eerie green tattooed face will tower above the room.

Visitors even have the chance to see themselves with a genuine Maori moko. Tattooist Steve Maddock, who developed the museum concept, said this was a privilege, as permission was needed from the moko owner to use it in any form.

More than 50 international tattoo artists will attend the museum launch on November 23, which coincides with a South Pacific tattoo show touring Samoa, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Maddock, who has been tattooing at Underground Arts since 1994, said he came up with the idea as a way of using his extra rented space. Everyone he spoke to was supportive and many volunteered their time and talents.

"For my one idea, everyone gave me another five."

He said tattoo art was an important part of New Zealand culture and its popularity was growing.

"I had my first tattoo when I was about 13 or 14 and it's just grown since then. It's quite addictive."

- NZPA