TATAU: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing [Book review]

Abstract

This book is a homage to tatau, honouring its deep socio-political significance and central mediating role in Sāmoan culture, past and present. As much as this is a social anthropological account, however, it is also a paean to tatau as a high art form, to the tufuga ta tatau who create these remarkably beautiful marks on the skin as well as the contemporary artists who wear and celebrate them. Indeed, many of the images reproduced in the book have adorned the walls of art galleries in and beyond Oceania.