Resurgence of ta moko among Maori women

A Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi doctoral student claims 40 per cent of Maori women have or are thinking of getting a ta moko, but men have largely usurped the cultural practices around getting tattooed.

Mei Winitana's thesis involved combing through the results of 129 online surveys where she asked participants about their views of Maori women and ta moko (which relates to tattoos on the body) or moko kauae, which is on the lips and chin.

She also interviewed 15 women who lived here or in Australia, and a group who had lived across the Tasman and returned.

One theme that emerged strongly was that there was confusion around the tikanga of getting a moko.

One interviewee said her request to have her ta moko completed on her marae was turned down because of conventions around the spillage of blood, because it was considered tapu.

"There were other respondents who said you should not indulge in sex during that particular time, or if you have your mate wahine [period], you should not have it done," Ms Winitana said.

"My challenge to those women was 'Na wai i ki?' Who actually said that? Were they men?"

"I actually said to this woman: 'What a lot of humbug'."

Academics were responsible for the blurred tikanga discourse, Ms Winitana said. Sir Hirini Moko Mead and Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter Buck) had both noted moko kauae signified noble birth, contradicting early Europeans who observed it at all strata of Maori society.

Not one of the women who participated in the survey had a moko kauae, and Ms Winitana said she believed they were put off by the supposed dos and don'ts attached to them, such as not drinking or smoking if they had one done.

Author Ngahuia Te Awekotuku's seminal Mau Moko and other research in recent years had gone some way to making it okay for women to talk about the art form passionately, she said.

Ms Winitana said her research found some women were getting the ta moko simply for its beauty; however, the majority who got one did so because it enhanced their identity and linked to their genealogy, whanau, hapu and iwi.

Women were also adding to their ta moko over time to mark special life events, making it a very organic process.

Ms Winitana said she liked to present the image of ex-Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger - whose bottom was photographed after being painted - to Maori at conferences to get discussion going.

"Some find it totally repugnant - it's taking and abusing cultural images - to the other end of the spectrum who thought it was really beautiful.

"The best response I've ever had was from two kuia at a conference who said: 'Can I remind you, after she's had five kids, nursed her babies and she's got stretch marks and saggy boobs, will she still look like that?'

"They spoke such good sense."

- New Zealand Herald