Exploring culture and identity through moko tattoos and wooden carvings
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Pitt Rivers Museum and Ruskin College The following is a personal contribution by a student volunteer from Ruskin College. The partnership between Ruskin College and the Pitt Rivers Museum aims to build a strong and positive relationship between the two institutions. Ruskin College is based in Oxford and offers a ‘second chance’ in education through university-standard courses for adults with few or no qualifications. For further information about Ruskin College please visit http://www.ruskin.ac.uk/ Exploring culture and identity through moko tattoos and wooden carvings By Denise Pakeman, student at Ruskin College, Oxford I am the mother of a teenage son who is currently exploring his identity through an interest in tattoos, piercings and fashion. I am also a mature student investigating my wider family history and culture and it has therefore been a great opportunity for me to look at the Body Arts display at the Pitt Rivers Museum and learn more about personal identity in another culture. On first looking at the Body Arts display I was drawn to a painting of New Zealand Maori Chief Ngairo Rakai Hikuroa (Fig. 1). It shows his ta moko or facial tattoos in great detail and I wanted to find out why such intricate designs were worn on the face. I could not get the image out of my head and in this respect I found it easy to identify with schoolgirl Clare Mayfield, the main character in Penelope Lively’s novel The House in Norham Gardens. In this story she finds a painted shield from Papua Fig. 1: Detail of Gottfried Lindauer’s 19th- New Guinea in the attic of her home and cannot century portrait of Ngairo Rakai Hikuroa with rest until she has discovered its secrets. full facial moko. PRM; 1938.35.1880
As my starting point, I read the Museum’s Body Art Introductory Guide on Ta Moko to get a feel for the traditional methods of Maori tattoo. In Ngairo Rakai Hikuroa’s time, the Guide informed me, this would have involved blades dipped in pigment being tapped with a mallet to create coloured grooves in his skin (as opposed to flat lines on his skin). This information raised more questions. Why would Ngairo Rakai Hikuroa undergo such a painful process - surely not just for the beauty of the perfectly balanced geometric designs? I wondered if the tattoos have a wider cultural significance or meaning and would they still be perceived in the same way today? During the course of my exploration, I was lucky enough to meet George Nuku, a Maori artist currently based in the UK. On the day I met him, George’s distinctive facial moko, ear ornament and hairstyle were complemented by a tartan jacket and kilt. He explained the tartan reflected the heather and colours of the Scottish landscape in honour of his part-Scottish ancestry and that his ancestors are brought into the present to meet each other on his body through the tartan cloth and Maori tattoos. As I listened to George speak about moko, I was taken back in time. His words painted a picture in my mind of carved faces representing the landscape of Polynesia - mountain ridges and deep valleys flowing to the sea; of connecting the people to the land through traditional methods of tattoo. He also spoke of Polynesians wearing their souls on the outside of their bodies through their tattoos, as opposed to Western culture where it is believed the soul is hidden from sight inside the body. George described his own moko as a genealogical connection to his ancestors and their landscape, who help guide his conduct through life and assist him in meeting the challenges of wearing the moko, which is a third person and constant companion until death. I found this a very moving and powerful insight into identity; linking the individual with family group, as well as bringing past ancestry to those in the present in a very personal way. I came to understand that moko is about more than fashion, or being tough enough to endure the tattooing process. George described his decision to be tattooed as a journey and said that all Maori think about it as it inspires strong feelings. His own facial moko, which is not yet complete, was applied partly by chisel and partly by machine. He said that the application of the designs around his eyes resulted in painful swellings that left him blind for four days. Fig. 2: Wooden feeding funnel decorated with carved scrolling and geometric patterns, Rotorua, New Zealand. Donated by Mrs Staples-Browne (Makereti) in 1928. PRM; 1928.1.2
In sharing the graphic experience of his own modern-day moko, George brought to
life and helped me to better understand a carved wooden Maori object I had previously
viewed in the Body Arts displays (Fig. 2). The Museum’s Accession Book entry is somewhat
unexciting, describing it as a “carved wooden feeding funnel, used for feeding a chief who
was being tattooed”, but it mentions one other detail that would eventually take me on a
fascinating journey outside the confines of the museum. I read that it had been collected
and donated to the museum by Mrs. Staples Browne (also known as Maggie Papakura
and Makereti). The three names really grabbed my attention, and trying to put them into
context in my own time, I imagined a family name, a nom de plume and a stage name.
In reality I found the names speak of her Maori and European identities: the first being
her name on marriage to an Englishman, the second being a name she created whilst
working as a tour guide in her home town in New Zealand and the third being her Maori
family name. I became particularly interested in Makereti (as I will refer to her) because I
found she was one of the first of her generation to bend cultural rules and act as a bridge
between the Maori and the Europeans. I think the posed photograph below hints at this.
Fig. 3: From a studio portrait
of Makereti (Maggie Papkura)
with her mother and aunt,
probably photographed by Jones
& Coleman, Auckland, c. 1900.
Photos PRM; 2002.27.2
Born in 1873, Makereti was the child of a Maori woman of Te Arawa lineage and an Englishman, receiving both Maori and English education. I understand her Maori lineage would traditionally have been displayed by a chin tattoo, as worn in Fig 3. by Makereti’s mother and aunt, seated in front of her. Yet Makereti, standing behind them, has no facial tattoos (although she wears traditional dress in the form of a cloak known as a korowai). Tantalizingly, this photograph and discrepancy raises questions for which I can find no answer. However, as a mature student myself, I was really interested to find that Makereti studied at Oxford University in 1926. I was very excited to be shown her thesis which was published in book form shortly after her death. It is entitled Makereti: the Old-Time Maori and to my great surprise, although she writes in fascinating detail on many aspects of life with her own Maori people, I could find absolutely no mention of tattooing on men or women. Still musing about Makereti, I met Rosanna Raymond, a multi-media and performance artist, born in New Zealand of Samoan descent. She was in the Pitt Rivers Museum to give a talk on the Polynesian concepts of ta (time) and va (space) and how her work interacts with objects from the Pacific in museum spaces. (For example see her contribution to the Pitt Rivers Museum’s Pacific Pathways project.) Rosanna explained that the origins of the word tattoo are ta (time) and tau (to hold on to time) and that for Polynesians the tattoo patterns are books, libraries, histories and a guide on how to behave, all of which is lost in the modern Western canon of using tattoos primarily as a decorative art form or fashion statement. I was really interested to hear Rosanna say this as I had just read a book by Jane Caplan on the history of tattoos in the West. She shows pictures of fashion tattoos on Westerners today, but also illustrates how tattooing emerged from Celtic mythologies and religious pilgrimage, only later acquiring negative connotations in connection with sailors, convicts, transportation and prostitution. Having spoken about tattoos, Rosanna went on to explain that there is a misunderstanding with regard to many objects in museums around the world. She said the Polynesians were great traders and bought, sold, exchanged and gifted all sorts of items to and from travellers around the world. Rosanna sees Polynesian items in Western museums as an investment by her forebears, and she considers it her obligation to continue this investment through her performance art and work with the objects themselves. She sees this interaction as providing a voice that is not an academic text and which plays a pivotal role in the expression of modern Polynesian identity. Listening to Rosanna’s talk helped me to better appreciate a recent visit I made to “Hinemihi” a Maori Meeting House in the gardens of Clandon Park, now owned by the National Trust (Fig. 4). I visited Hinemihi to view a carved panel originally forming part of Makereti’s meeting house, which she had been brought over from New Zealand on a cultural tour in the early 20th century. The meeting house in Clandon Park is seen by some as an embodiment of the Maori tribal ancestor Hinemihi, who descended from Ngatoroirangi, a priest of the Te Arawa canoe. Displays in the visitors’ room in Clandon House showed me that parts of the house represent Hinemihi’s body: the door is her mouth, the window her eye, the bargeboards
her arms, the carved posts her legs and the carved gable her head. A close-up of the
figurehead reveals moko designs painted on to the body and face (Fig. 5).
Fig. 4: Photograph of “Hinemihi”, the Maori Meeting House in gardens of Clandon Park
(Photo taken by DP in August 2010, reproduced by kind permission of the National Trust)
It also helped me to find an answer to my question - why is a Maori meeting house in the
grounds of an English ancestral home? Seemingly, in 1892 the 4th Earl of Onslow bought
the meeting house as a memento of his time as Governor of New Zealand and shipped
it back to Clandon Park near Guildford. Today the National Trust shares guardianship
of Hinemihi with UK-based Maori and other Polynesian groups including: Ngati Ranana,
Kohanga Reo, Ngati Hinemihi, Maramara Totara and Beats of Polynesia. I viewed a film in
the visitors’ room showing traditional Maori Hangi and Matariki ceremonies taking place
in the sacred space in-front of the house. I was interested to learn that there are three
aspects to the ceremony: to re-connect with the spirit of Hinemihi’s creators (wairau),
the life force and power of creation from the Gods (mauri), and ancestral power (mana). It
seems that human interaction is required to bring these objects and personalities to life
and it was only after hearing Rosanna’s passionate commentary on this relationship that I
fully appreciated how important it is to Polynesian identity today.Conclusion
A personal interest in identity through an aspect of
body art has given me a chance to learn about Maori
culture in the past and present. I started by studying
objects in the Pitt Rivers Body Arts display, which
led me to Makereti’s multi-faceted identity and the
bridge she created from the 19th century to today.
I also became aware of modern-day Maori people
and culture in Britain through their engagement
with objects in the Pitt Rivers Museum collections
and Hinemihi, the Maori meeting house. In so doing,
it has been possible, perhaps, to glimpse something
of the subtleties of Maori history and identity
through their eyes. Through conversations with
George Nuku and Rosanna Raymond I came to see
that Maori moko, and indeed Polynesian tattooing
in general, is more than art; they offer reflections
on the wider lives and identities of a people and
their culture. This exploration has not only allowed
me to appreciate my own identity anew, but also to
Fig. 5: Close-up of carved figurehead on
celebrate that of my teenage son as he discovers the front of the Meeting House showing
and expresses who he is. moko (Photo taken by DP in August 2010,
reproduced by kind permission of the
National Trust)
Denise Pakeman, 2011Further reading and links to information mentioned in the text Links Pitt Rivers Introductory Guide: ta moko by Jennifer Peck (2002), for more history and detail about Maori moko Maori Art - a Storehouse of Knowledge and Mystery by Jeremy Coote, for the sto- ries revealed by a carved door panel in the Pitt Rivers Museum’s collections. Makereti - Traveller Between Worlds, Oxford Today interview with Jeremy Coote (21:1, 2008), for a fuller account of Makereti’s fascinating life story. Body Arts: Tatau and Ta Moko, an 18-minute film featuring Maori artist George Nuku and Samoan artist Rosanna Raymond (2010) Pitt Rivers Museum’s ‘Pacific Pathways’ ‘paths’ (articles) by curators, artists, histo- rians and academics exploring the Forster Collection Books Caplan, J., Written on the Body: The Tattoo in European and American History (Reaktion Books, 2000) Diamond, P., Makereti: taking Maori to the World (North Shore City: Random House New Zealand, 2007) Makereti, The Old-Time Maori (reprint), (Auckland: New Women’s Press, 1986) Other web resources Victoria University of Wellington, The Old Time Maori (online version) http://www. nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-MakOldT.html [2008; accessed 18.08.10] Te Ara: Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.teara.govt.nz [2005–2011; ac- cessed 18.08.10] Ngāti Rānana London Māori Club, http://www.ngatiranana.co.uk [accessed 21.08.10] Pasifika Styles artists: George Nuku and Rosanna Raymond, http://www.pasifika- styles.org.uk/artists/ [2006–2007; accessed 15.08.10]
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