Published by Te Papa Press
Publication Date: August, 2018, Hardback, 255 x 200 mm, 304 Page
A beautifully designed and richly illustrated retelling of the unique and powerful history of Samoan tattooing from 3000 years ago to modern practices.
This cultural history is the first publication to examine 3000 years of Samoan tatau. Through a chronology rich with people, encounters and events, it describes how Samoan tattooing has been shaped by local and external forces of change over many centuries. It is richly illustrated with historical images of nineteenth and twentieth century Samoan tattooing, contemporary tattooing, diagrams of tattoo designs and motifs, and with supplementary photographs such as posters, ephemera, film stills and artefacts.
Sean Mallon is of Samoan and Irish descent and is Senior Curator Pacific Cultures at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. He is the author of Tangata o le Moana: the story of New Zealand and the people of the Pacific (Te Papa Press, 2012).
Sebastien Galliott studied ethnology at the University of Provence and EHESS (Paris). France's foremost research school in social sciences, and researches Samoan traditional tattooing and the contemporary practice of this ritual.