Samoan Tattoo Art

Samoan Tattoo Art: Another sub-division within Polynesian tattoo art, Samoan tattoo culture was markedly unusual for it’s elevation of the tattoo artist to a hallowed status: akin to a priest or religious figure in his community, his position was hereditary only, and tattooing was performed as part of a ceremony that was attended by friends and relatives. Women had fewer and less complex tattoos than men. The traditional style of creating a tattoo, with bone-needles and wooden rods, was immensely painful and it is not unusual to imagine that many of the people undergoing the process might have wanted to abort the idea after hours being inked – those who ran away and abandoned the days long process were left with incomplete tattoos that were considered highly shameful, dishonourable and unlucky. The style is typified by tiny repetitive motifs of geometric detail, lines, angles and crosses that band across limbs and body.