How is the human body adorned and/or depicted in art across the Pacific? How do these adornments and depictions define or enhance status,authority, and gender roles?
"Your necklace may break, the fau tree may burst, but my tattooing is indestructible. It is an everlasting gem that you will take into your grave."
TATTOOS ON THE HUMAN BODY In Samoa, tattoos (tatau, as they were called by the Samoans) were a ritualistic part of life that almost all people went through, and this set of traditions has persisted and persisted for over two thousand years. This skill was passed down through family lines, though specifically through the males in the family. "The pain was extreme and the risk of death by infection was a great concern. But to shy away from tattooing was to risk being labeled a coward" (PBS, 2003). Males received tattoos called the Pe'a that extended from the middle of the torso to the top of the knee, and these tattoos would take many, many sessions. This process took years, and the tattoos grew and changed as the boy became a man. This tattooing process was a large part of becoming a man: if you could not withstand the pain of extensive tattooing, you could not be considered a man in the Samoan culture. | MOTIFS IN SAMOAN TATTOO Typical Samoan tattoos included elements like geometric patterns and simplistic representations of people and animals. In terms of pattern, certain shapes and lines held different meanings wen placed on specific parts of the body; telling a story based on the individual's life and experiences. |
Watch below:
Contemporary Artists
- Ana Mendieta
- "earth-body sculpture"
Both these cultures primarily focus on tattoo of the male body, and each has a leader that holds information and secrets of the particulars of each group's tattoo practices and idiosyncrasies.
Website: https://www.buzzfeed.com/maitlandquitmeyer/inkspiration?utm_term=.meX6OmW85#.eg5Dn8qbK
Website: http://tattoo-journal.com/35-beautiful-japanese-tattoos/
TEXTBOOK: Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael Watt Cothren. Art History. 5th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Print.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWU7w0x9f3k
"History of Tattoo." Skin Stories: The Art and Culture of Polynesian Tattoo. PBS, 2003. Web. 19 May 2016. <http://www.pbs.org/skinstories/history/index.html>.
MUSEUM SOURCE: Lineberry, Cate. "Tattoos." Smithsonian History. Smithsonian, 1 Jan. 2007. Web. 19 May 2016. <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/tattoos-144038580/?no-ist>.
JOURNAL: Goldstein, N. and Sewell, M. (1979), III. Tattoos in Different Cultures. The Journal of Dermatologic Surgery and Oncology, 5: 857–864. doi: 10.1111/j.1524-4725.1979.tb00769.x