“I lay down on the ground blindfolded, and two women held me down….[The tā moko artist] used a chisel made of whalebone. He made cuts before he dipped the chisel in the dye and pressed it in. It was very painful. I had to brace myself and be held still.”
So recounted Rangi Ruru in the book ‘Moko'. The kuia in the current exhibition of portraits have been through this experience, though in details unique to them, according to curator Rhonda Paku who has herself received a moko.
“Through the experience of pain your spirit connects with the ancestors,” she writes. In bearing the pain of the process, the person passes “from innocence to maturity, from the dark to the light, to reach the tīpuna and atua through the shared experience of the ancestors”.
The portraits were taken by London-born Marti Friedlander in 1970 during a two-week trip with historian Michael King to meet kuia bearing moko for his book ‘Moko: Maori tattooing in the 20th century’. This became the first ever survey of kuia with moko kauae, a tradition unique to Maori in which the chin and lips of women are tattooed.
At that time, people assumed that this was a vanishing art - but time has proved otherwise, with contemporary women also choosing to adorn themselves in this way.
Rhonda Paku says that the reasons for the choice include commemorating a loved one who has passed away, as a symbol of love, a rite of passage, and a way of signaling identity.
Marti Friedlander (who had emigrated to New Zealand in 1958) recalls: “These kuia…knew, absolutely who they were. They were powerful women, and I have tried to capture this in my photographs.”
The process and history of moko is steeped in tradition, connecting to the ancient narrative of Mataora and Niwareka, and conferring a dignity and mana to the woman which cannot be taken away. “[The moko] will be your ornament and your companion until your last day,” said tā moko artist Netana Whakaari of Waimana.
Whanau members with enquiries or information about their kuia portrayed here are welcome to contact Te Papa, where the complete suite of images from the book is held.
Kuia Mau Moko: photographs by Marti Friedlander, an exhibition on Maori tattooing, until 15 November.
Caption: The women are from first image to last (name corresponds to name on photo): {Kiti Te Hema, Tūhoe; Puti Rakuraku, Tūhoe & Whare Tawai Harunga, Te Tai Rāwhiti.