Name: Tatau
Brand: Te Papa Press
SKU: 9780994136244
Price: 57.99 GBP
Availability: InStock

Tatau

A History of Sāmoan Tattooing

By (author): Sean Mallon, By (author): Sébastien Galliot

Published by Te Papa Press

In Stock

£57.99

Format: Hardback
Pages: 320
Illustrations: 111 colour images
ISBN: 9780994136244
Publication Date: 16-Aug-2018

Subjects:
Body art & tattooing
Australasian & Pacific history
Social & cultural anthropology
ethnography

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The Sāmoan Islands are virtually unique in that tattooing has been continuously practised with indigenous techniques: the design of the full male tattoo, the pe'a, has evolved in subtle ways since the nineteenth century, but remains as elaborate, meaningful and powerful as it ever was. This richly illustrated cultural history is the first publication to examine 3000 years of Sāmoan tatau. Through a chronology vivid with people, encounters and events, it describes how Sāmoan tattooing has been shaped by local and external forces over many centuries. It argues that Sāmoan tatau has a long history of relevance both within and beyond Sāmoa, and a more complicated history than is currently presented in the literature.

SEAN MALLON is of Sāmoan and Irish descent and is Senior Curator Pacific Cultures at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. He has authored and co-edited a number of publications. His exhibitions include Paperskin: the art of tapa cloth (with Maud Page) (2009); Tangata o le Moana (2007), Voyagers: discovering the Pacific and Tatau/Tattoo (2002). He has been a council member of The Polynesian Society since 2008.

SÉBASTIEN GALLIOT studied ethnology at the University of Provence and EHESS (Paris), Frances foremost research school in social sciences. His research focuses on Sāmoan traditional tattooing and the contemporary practice of this ritual. Since 2001, he has made several visits to Sāmoa, Tonga and Fiji in order to do field research. Sébastien is also a self-taught photographer and filmmaker. During a one-year residence in Sāmoa in 2005, he took hundreds of pictures and hours of film and exhibited a selection of those photographs in France (Marseille, Correns). He has given guest lectures on tattooing at Te Papa and at conferences in Sāmoa and Europe.