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Su'a Suluape Petelo is a master of the traditional Samoan tatau and wears his inspiration on his upper left arm.
It is a Western tattoo of the face of his big brother Paulo, another master tatau artist, who was murdered in Auckland in 1999.
Su'a said that after
Paulo died he decided to pick up the mantle of master tatau on behalf of his family, practising the specialised art at their coastal village near the capital Apia.
Next week, he will share his skills at Unitec polytechnic in Mt Albert as part of a tatau symposium called Sacred Mark, where artists will explore tattooing from a Pacific and Maori cultural perspective.
It is a joint venture between the Unitec schools of design, architecture and landscape architecture and the Centre for Pacific Development.
In a fale in the Unitec grounds Su'a yesterday began a pe'a, a male tattoo from the waist to the knees, on New Zealand-born Samoan Naylor Owen, a distant relative.
The tatau will take over a week and the painstaking process can be viewed from 9am to midday, Monday to Friday.
Those who want to sit in the fale to get a close look at his work must wear a lavalava and sit cross-legged, well away from the sacred tools.
Once finished, Su'a plans to complete a malu, a female tattoo from the upper thighs to knees, on Naylor's younger sister Christine.
The pair, who have a Samoan mother and Welsh father, sought permission from their grandfather back in Samoa to have the tattoos.
Su'a told the Weekend Herald he had been practising the ancient art for 32 years.
A former science teacher, he became a fulltime tufuga (tattooist) in 2000.
Su'a completes dozens of the tattoos a year, each taking nearly two weeks, working on the body for up to four hours a day.
Some of his clients are Samoans now living in New Zealand, Australia or the United States.
"There is a revival of interest ... They want to get a tatau as a mark of their identity."
The technique is traditional, using an instrument called an au, which is a comb-like chisel.
The ink is imported from the United States as it is cleaner and safer than the soot of burned candle nuts that some Samoans still request.
Su'a is well aware of controversies over people getting sick as a result of poor hygiene practices, both in New Zealand and Samoa.
"I'm always getting called in to clean up the mess. It gives me a headache."
When in his 20s, Su'a began a three-year apprenticeship to train under his father.
"Some have learned how to do it without enough knowledge of how to take care of the client."
Su'a knows what it is like to undergo the ritual. He has a full pe'a, done by Paulo.
He also has Western tattoos, which include a large portrait of himself on his forearm and souvenirs of places he has visited, like Rome in 1985.
Symposium spokesman Falaniko Tominiko says visitors to the symposium will be able to witness not just a master tattooist at work but have access to a wide range of lectures explaining the different elements of a tatau, such as its cultural importance, psychology and identity and personal journeys. It will culminate with a traditional tatau ceremony on the final day of the symposium.
Mr Tominiko says tattooing has a huge following, particularly among young Pasifika men and women.
Pasifika guest speakers at the symposium include Professor Asofou So'o from the University of Samoa, Unitec's writer-in-residence Albert Refiti, Samoan photographer Greg Semu and Professor Ngahuia Te Awekotuku from the University of Waikato, who has an extensive background in tamoko (Maori tattoo).
Mr Tominiko says Semu, a Unitec graduate, is making a special trip back to New Zealand from his base in Paris, where he is in residence at the Musee du quai Branly art gallery.
He says Refiti is researching Pasifika concepts in digital and virtual design.
