Tatau: Samoan Tattoo, New Zealand Art, Global Culture

When Tatau was first published in 2010, Mark Adams' renowned images documenting a great Polynesian art tradition were a revelation. It told the story of the late Sulu'ape Paulo II, the pre-eminent figure of modern Samoan tattooing. A brilliantly innovative and often controversial man, he saw tatau as an art of international importance. Tatau documented his practice, and that of other tufuga ta tatau (tattoo artists), in the contexts of Polynesian tattooing, Samoan migrant communities and New Zealand art. Long out-of-print, this revised and extended new edition, with its handsome large format and texts by distinguished scholars, makes a cultural treasure available once more.

E-Tangata, reviewed by Pakilau Manase Lua. “This handsome coffee-table book is a feast for the eyes of tatau connoisseurs and the tattooing fraternity …”

Mark Adams was born in Christchurch in 1949. He is one of Aotearoa New Zealands foremost documentary photographers. His work has been extensively exhibited in Aotearoa, Australia, South Africa and Europe and at Brazils Sao Paulo biennale. Sean Mallon is of Samoan (Iva and Mulivai, Safata) and Irish (Belfast) descent. He is Senior Curator Pacific Cultures at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, where he specialises in the social and cultural history of Pacific peoples in Aotearoa. He is the author, with Sebastien Galliot, of the award-winning Tatau: A History of Samoan Tattooing (2018). Nicholas Thomas is Professor of Historical Anthropology and Director of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. His most recent book is Voyagers: the Settlement of the Pacific (2020). He co-curated the major 2018 exhibition Oceania at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, and the Musee du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris, with Peter Brunt. Peter Brunt is of Samoan and English descent, with ancestral connections to Lano, Vaiala and Bedfordshire. He is Associate Professor of Art History at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, where he teaches and researches the visual arts of the Pacific, focusing on the role of art in mediating cross-cultural encounters. With Nicholas Thomas he co-curated the major 2018 exhibition Oceania at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, and the Musee du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris.

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