melanesian marks

blog.

The Process - Making Marks

"As is my process before I mark someone; I look at the body as a whole and as our women did before us, choose where and what to be marked...

“From Old to New Old, That's How We Go Forward..."

Travelling to and from my birthplace and the country that birthed my passion to express my cultural identity, I have, as a trained...

“Caution”

As part of the APT8 opening 'Live' performances at QAGOMA in Brisbane, Australia, Sunameke Productions directed by Julia Mageau Gray,...

I Like It, I Want It, I'll Take It.

- Originally posted as 'The Hidden Wharenui in Fitzroy' on teptok.com, April 2015. In 2015, The Contemporary Pacific Arts Festival had...

‘Traditional Tattoo and World Culture Festival, 2017'

My time at the ‘Traditional Tattoo and World Culture Festival’ in Mallorca was an eye opener for me into the ‘tattoo world’. My world of...

Talking with Ema Tavola

A conversation between Julia Mage’au Gray and Ema Tavola Papatoetoe, Auckland (January 2018) penned by Ema Tavola. - originally published...

Three Months with Terita

Introducing Terita Gamoga Toea and her revareva. (Terita’s story in brief. Full version coming up in the Tep Tok : Our Lines Connect Us...

My Mother’s Skin

Our Bubu’s (Grandmother’s) wore the marks of their families, clans, villages and regions. Their marks afforded them respect, an immediate...

Carrying Culture

Sharing the words of Moale James This year while on a family trip to PNG I received the opportunity to carry the permanent markings of my...