A black-and-white photo of a person mid-air in a Superman-style body suspension pose, supported by multiple hooks in their back and legs, smiling joyfully toward the camera. They are suspended horizontally in a large indoor space with high ceilings and visible rigging. A group of onlookers—some seated, some standing—watch with expressions of admiration, amusement, and support. The atmosphere is lively and communal, capturing a moment of shared experience and transformation.

Facial Tattoos and Scarification.

jasn sent in these new shots of Andy (featured previously), updating us on his beautiful “Ta-Moko” and forehead skin removal.

Click on each photo above to enlargen.

Pacific Rootz Tattoo, Maui, Hawaii.

Comments

156 responses to “Facial Tattoos and Scarification.”

  1. Kero Avatar
    Kero

    So someone with a degree in Cultural/Social Anthropology has to call names to get their point across? Cool.. Stretching Of lobes ect was an mere Example of a practices that were started by indigenous peoples and adopted by modern western culture. Apparently you are far too busy defending your own cause and playing the mod police to grasp the concept I was trying to convey. Please do take care and remember to relax every now and again.
    Sincerely, fuckface.. err opps I mean Kero

  2. Kero Avatar
    Kero

    So someone with a degree in Cultural/Social Anthropology has to call names to get their point across? Cool.. Stretching Of lobes ect was an mere Example of a practices that were started by indigenous peoples and adopted by modern western culture. Apparently you are far too busy defending your own cause and playing the mod police to grasp the concept I was trying to convey. Please do take care and remember to relax every now and again.
    Sincerely, fuckface.. err opps I mean Kero

  3. Kero Avatar
    Kero

    So someone with a degree in Cultural/Social Anthropology has to call names to get their point across? Cool.. Stretching Of lobes ect was an mere Example of a practices that were started by indigenous peoples and adopted by modern western culture. Apparently you are far too busy defending your own cause and playing the mod police to grasp the concept I was trying to convey. Please do take care and remember to relax every now and again.
    Sincerely, fuckface.. err opps I mean Kero

  4. Kero Avatar
    Kero

    So someone with a degree in Cultural/Social Anthropology has to call names to get their point across? Cool.. Stretching Of lobes ect was an mere Example of a practices that were started by indigenous peoples and adopted by modern western culture. Apparently you are far too busy defending your own cause and playing the mod police to grasp the concept I was trying to convey. Please do take care and remember to relax every now and again.
    Sincerely, fuckface.. err opps I mean Kero

  5. lovelife Avatar

    Hey Kero, you’re way over your head. It’d be cool if people like you actually did a little research and knew what they were talking about before they jumped into something like this.

    Calling work like this Ta Moko is offensive, it’s like if I were to go out wearing a native american head-dress & calling myself Geronimo.

    It’s not fair game, It’s a birth-right.
    Our ancestors boiled a lot of heads to keep it that way.

  6. lovelife Avatar

    Hey Kero, you’re way over your head. It’d be cool if people like you actually did a little research and knew what they were talking about before they jumped into something like this.

    Calling work like this Ta Moko is offensive, it’s like if I were to go out wearing a native american head-dress & calling myself Geronimo.

    It’s not fair game, It’s a birth-right.
    Our ancestors boiled a lot of heads to keep it that way.

  7. lovelife Avatar

    Hey Kero, you’re way over your head. It’d be cool if people like you actually did a little research and knew what they were talking about before they jumped into something like this.

    Calling work like this Ta Moko is offensive, it’s like if I were to go out wearing a native american head-dress & calling myself Geronimo.

    It’s not fair game, It’s a birth-right.
    Our ancestors boiled a lot of heads to keep it that way.

  8. lovelife Avatar

    Hey Kero, you’re way over your head. It’d be cool if people like you actually did a little research and knew what they were talking about before they jumped into something like this.

    Calling work like this Ta Moko is offensive, it’s like if I were to go out wearing a native american head-dress & calling myself Geronimo.

    It’s not fair game, It’s a birth-right.
    Our ancestors boiled a lot of heads to keep it that way.

  9. peaches Avatar
    peaches

    Wow, some people just suck the fun right out of looking at a picture!

  10. peaches Avatar
    peaches

    Wow, some people just suck the fun right out of looking at a picture!

  11. peaches Avatar
    peaches

    Wow, some people just suck the fun right out of looking at a picture!

  12. peaches Avatar
    peaches

    Wow, some people just suck the fun right out of looking at a picture!

  13. Madeline Avatar

    This absolutely gorgeous!
    I love the scarification.

  14. Madeline Avatar

    This absolutely gorgeous!
    I love the scarification.

  15. Madeline Avatar

    This absolutely gorgeous!
    I love the scarification.

  16. Madeline Avatar

    This absolutely gorgeous!
    I love the scarification.

  17. Jessyka Avatar
    Jessyka

    I’m not Maori, but I am Kiwi and I agree with Jon P 100%. The quote here I think sums it up
    Ta moko is a taonga (treasure) which is intrinsic to Maori culture and is very tapu (sacred). Numerous rituals were traditionally observed in accordance with ta moko, and some are still practised (such as karakia, or long religious chants).

  18. Jessyka Avatar
    Jessyka

    I’m not Maori, but I am Kiwi and I agree with Jon P 100%. The quote here I think sums it up
    Ta moko is a taonga (treasure) which is intrinsic to Maori culture and is very tapu (sacred). Numerous rituals were traditionally observed in accordance with ta moko, and some are still practised (such as karakia, or long religious chants).

  19. Jessyka Avatar
    Jessyka

    I’m not Maori, but I am Kiwi and I agree with Jon P 100%. The quote here I think sums it up
    Ta moko is a taonga (treasure) which is intrinsic to Maori culture and is very tapu (sacred). Numerous rituals were traditionally observed in accordance with ta moko, and some are still practised (such as karakia, or long religious chants).

  20. Jessyka Avatar
    Jessyka

    I’m not Maori, but I am Kiwi and I agree with Jon P 100%. The quote here I think sums it up
    Ta moko is a taonga (treasure) which is intrinsic to Maori culture and is very tapu (sacred). Numerous rituals were traditionally observed in accordance with ta moko, and some are still practised (such as karakia, or long religious chants).

  21. Jon P Avatar

    I say enjoy the picture! Enjoy the mods! Just don’t call it something it’s not! Call it… a primitive snail design, not ta moko, hahaha.

  22. Jon P Avatar

    I say enjoy the picture! Enjoy the mods! Just don’t call it something it’s not! Call it… a primitive snail design, not ta moko, hahaha.

  23. Jon P Avatar

    I say enjoy the picture! Enjoy the mods! Just don’t call it something it’s not! Call it… a primitive snail design, not ta moko, hahaha.

  24. Jon P Avatar

    I say enjoy the picture! Enjoy the mods! Just don’t call it something it’s not! Call it… a primitive snail design, not ta moko, hahaha.

  25. Killaya Avatar
    Killaya

    I don’t care WHAT it is, “ta moko” or not…but whatever the design is, it’s gorgeous.

  26. Killaya Avatar
    Killaya

    I don’t care WHAT it is, “ta moko” or not…but whatever the design is, it’s gorgeous.

  27. Killaya Avatar
    Killaya

    I don’t care WHAT it is, “ta moko” or not…but whatever the design is, it’s gorgeous.

  28. Killaya Avatar
    Killaya

    I don’t care WHAT it is, “ta moko” or not…but whatever the design is, it’s gorgeous.

  29. lovelife Avatar

    Views on Ta Moko aside, I think this tattoo isn’t at all amazing. It doesn’t fit the face as well as it could & it’s not particularly well tattooed, or as Jon put it “Messy as hell”

  30. lovelife Avatar

    Views on Ta Moko aside, I think this tattoo isn’t at all amazing. It doesn’t fit the face as well as it could & it’s not particularly well tattooed, or as Jon put it “Messy as hell”

  31. lovelife Avatar

    Views on Ta Moko aside, I think this tattoo isn’t at all amazing. It doesn’t fit the face as well as it could & it’s not particularly well tattooed, or as Jon put it “Messy as hell”

  32. lovelife Avatar

    Views on Ta Moko aside, I think this tattoo isn’t at all amazing. It doesn’t fit the face as well as it could & it’s not particularly well tattooed, or as Jon put it “Messy as hell”

  33. true Avatar
    true

    okay i am a kiwi

    there is not one full blood Maori left on this earth

    Jon P is just another half blood with too much time on his hands

    i mean look at the guy he is WHITE! im sure he has some maori blood but come on!
    just look at him just another guy here with almost no tattoos and wants to claim he is brown
    give it up white boy get a life

  34. true Avatar
    true

    okay i am a kiwi

    there is not one full blood Maori left on this earth

    Jon P is just another half blood with too much time on his hands

    i mean look at the guy he is WHITE! im sure he has some maori blood but come on!
    just look at him just another guy here with almost no tattoos and wants to claim he is brown
    give it up white boy get a life

  35. true Avatar
    true

    okay i am a kiwi

    there is not one full blood Maori left on this earth

    Jon P is just another half blood with too much time on his hands

    i mean look at the guy he is WHITE! im sure he has some maori blood but come on!
    just look at him just another guy here with almost no tattoos and wants to claim he is brown
    give it up white boy get a life

  36. true Avatar
    true

    okay i am a kiwi

    there is not one full blood Maori left on this earth

    Jon P is just another half blood with too much time on his hands

    i mean look at the guy he is WHITE! im sure he has some maori blood but come on!
    just look at him just another guy here with almost no tattoos and wants to claim he is brown
    give it up white boy get a life

  37. KJ Avatar
    KJ

    How the hell is that design Maori?
    It doesn’t even resemble Ta Moko….
    That aside, its a nice enough abstract design, but I like the eyebrows.

  38. KJ Avatar
    KJ

    How the hell is that design Maori?
    It doesn’t even resemble Ta Moko….
    That aside, its a nice enough abstract design, but I like the eyebrows.

  39. KJ Avatar
    KJ

    How the hell is that design Maori?
    It doesn’t even resemble Ta Moko….
    That aside, its a nice enough abstract design, but I like the eyebrows.

  40. KJ Avatar
    KJ

    How the hell is that design Maori?
    It doesn’t even resemble Ta Moko….
    That aside, its a nice enough abstract design, but I like the eyebrows.

  41. akibare Avatar
    akibare

    As a completely ignorant person, is there a good site to read about introduction to what is ta moko and the history of appropriating it or not? Because quite frankly it’s something I did often wonder about also.

    I just now looked up “kirituhi” and finding it interesting.

  42. akibare Avatar
    akibare

    As a completely ignorant person, is there a good site to read about introduction to what is ta moko and the history of appropriating it or not? Because quite frankly it’s something I did often wonder about also.

    I just now looked up “kirituhi” and finding it interesting.

  43. akibare Avatar
    akibare

    As a completely ignorant person, is there a good site to read about introduction to what is ta moko and the history of appropriating it or not? Because quite frankly it’s something I did often wonder about also.

    I just now looked up “kirituhi” and finding it interesting.

  44. akibare Avatar
    akibare

    As a completely ignorant person, is there a good site to read about introduction to what is ta moko and the history of appropriating it or not? Because quite frankly it’s something I did often wonder about also.

    I just now looked up “kirituhi” and finding it interesting.

  45. Jon P Avatar

    Hey true, if you’re a kiwi, that hopefully means you live in new zealand. if you ever shit on my whakapapa like that again, i’ll be requesting a personal meeting with you, kanohi ki te kanohi. this isn’t an empty request across the internet. give me your phone number and address and i’ll come see you so we can talk about your comment face to face.

    and because i’ve already gone into several issues in this comments forum including: misappropriation of cultural property, intellectual property rights, and general education around the issues of ta moko versus kirituhi, I’d like to add another theme to the equation…

    blood quantums were originally created by Europeans as a way to divide humans from ‘sub-humans’. if you had enough ‘white’ blood, you were considered a conscious, thinking being rather than an animal. because blacks were considered animals in those times (aboriginal australians weren’t considered human, thus the term terra nullus was used when the first settlers arrived in australia, because in their eyes it was unoccupied), they weren’t allowed human rights unless they had sufficiently ‘white blood’ to allow them human status.

    thus, your contention that there are no full blood maori left is flawed from the outset. if i bleed, an the average joe bloggs in japan bleeds, my blood doesn’t run white while his runs yellow. that’s intensely racist of you to contend such a thing. blood is merely blood; it doesn’t differ between ‘races’ (a term which isn’t scientifically viable, mind you, it’s the term ‘ethnicity’ which is used today).

    whether you are 75%, 50%, 25%, or whatever percent, you’re no less something than anyone else if you live and breathe it.

    ko te maori ahau, and being white doesn’t change that fact. i was unaware that all maori had to be brown. and i was also unaware that the definition of maori is something to be stated by non-maori. i had enough abuse from jocks like you in high school to make me ignore my birthright and heritage for all of my formative years. it was only in university when i had a discussion with the kaitautoko maori of the social science school of massey university that i realized that the only people who questioned my ‘maoriness’ were pakeha, they weren’t maori. do you think my kuia and koroua cared i was white? did that stop them trying to take me as the first born whangai of my whanau?

    in fact, mason durie, the VC Maori of massey university and an authority on maori health, wrote extensively on the need for maori to stand up and assert to non-maori that it is maori, and only maori, who have the final say on what is an isn’t maori.

    so, true, you racist piece of shit, if you’d like to continue this discussion, you know my face. i live in palmerston north. come and see me sometime. you’ll see my tatts just before you see the curb.

  46. Jon P Avatar

    Hey true, if you’re a kiwi, that hopefully means you live in new zealand. if you ever shit on my whakapapa like that again, i’ll be requesting a personal meeting with you, kanohi ki te kanohi. this isn’t an empty request across the internet. give me your phone number and address and i’ll come see you so we can talk about your comment face to face.

    and because i’ve already gone into several issues in this comments forum including: misappropriation of cultural property, intellectual property rights, and general education around the issues of ta moko versus kirituhi, I’d like to add another theme to the equation…

    blood quantums were originally created by Europeans as a way to divide humans from ‘sub-humans’. if you had enough ‘white’ blood, you were considered a conscious, thinking being rather than an animal. because blacks were considered animals in those times (aboriginal australians weren’t considered human, thus the term terra nullus was used when the first settlers arrived in australia, because in their eyes it was unoccupied), they weren’t allowed human rights unless they had sufficiently ‘white blood’ to allow them human status.

    thus, your contention that there are no full blood maori left is flawed from the outset. if i bleed, an the average joe bloggs in japan bleeds, my blood doesn’t run white while his runs yellow. that’s intensely racist of you to contend such a thing. blood is merely blood; it doesn’t differ between ‘races’ (a term which isn’t scientifically viable, mind you, it’s the term ‘ethnicity’ which is used today).

    whether you are 75%, 50%, 25%, or whatever percent, you’re no less something than anyone else if you live and breathe it.

    ko te maori ahau, and being white doesn’t change that fact. i was unaware that all maori had to be brown. and i was also unaware that the definition of maori is something to be stated by non-maori. i had enough abuse from jocks like you in high school to make me ignore my birthright and heritage for all of my formative years. it was only in university when i had a discussion with the kaitautoko maori of the social science school of massey university that i realized that the only people who questioned my ‘maoriness’ were pakeha, they weren’t maori. do you think my kuia and koroua cared i was white? did that stop them trying to take me as the first born whangai of my whanau?

    in fact, mason durie, the VC Maori of massey university and an authority on maori health, wrote extensively on the need for maori to stand up and assert to non-maori that it is maori, and only maori, who have the final say on what is an isn’t maori.

    so, true, you racist piece of shit, if you’d like to continue this discussion, you know my face. i live in palmerston north. come and see me sometime. you’ll see my tatts just before you see the curb.

  47. Jon P Avatar

    Hey true, if you’re a kiwi, that hopefully means you live in new zealand. if you ever shit on my whakapapa like that again, i’ll be requesting a personal meeting with you, kanohi ki te kanohi. this isn’t an empty request across the internet. give me your phone number and address and i’ll come see you so we can talk about your comment face to face.

    and because i’ve already gone into several issues in this comments forum including: misappropriation of cultural property, intellectual property rights, and general education around the issues of ta moko versus kirituhi, I’d like to add another theme to the equation…

    blood quantums were originally created by Europeans as a way to divide humans from ‘sub-humans’. if you had enough ‘white’ blood, you were considered a conscious, thinking being rather than an animal. because blacks were considered animals in those times (aboriginal australians weren’t considered human, thus the term terra nullus was used when the first settlers arrived in australia, because in their eyes it was unoccupied), they weren’t allowed human rights unless they had sufficiently ‘white blood’ to allow them human status.

    thus, your contention that there are no full blood maori left is flawed from the outset. if i bleed, an the average joe bloggs in japan bleeds, my blood doesn’t run white while his runs yellow. that’s intensely racist of you to contend such a thing. blood is merely blood; it doesn’t differ between ‘races’ (a term which isn’t scientifically viable, mind you, it’s the term ‘ethnicity’ which is used today).

    whether you are 75%, 50%, 25%, or whatever percent, you’re no less something than anyone else if you live and breathe it.

    ko te maori ahau, and being white doesn’t change that fact. i was unaware that all maori had to be brown. and i was also unaware that the definition of maori is something to be stated by non-maori. i had enough abuse from jocks like you in high school to make me ignore my birthright and heritage for all of my formative years. it was only in university when i had a discussion with the kaitautoko maori of the social science school of massey university that i realized that the only people who questioned my ‘maoriness’ were pakeha, they weren’t maori. do you think my kuia and koroua cared i was white? did that stop them trying to take me as the first born whangai of my whanau?

    in fact, mason durie, the VC Maori of massey university and an authority on maori health, wrote extensively on the need for maori to stand up and assert to non-maori that it is maori, and only maori, who have the final say on what is an isn’t maori.

    so, true, you racist piece of shit, if you’d like to continue this discussion, you know my face. i live in palmerston north. come and see me sometime. you’ll see my tatts just before you see the curb.

  48. Jon P Avatar

    Hey true, if you’re a kiwi, that hopefully means you live in new zealand. if you ever shit on my whakapapa like that again, i’ll be requesting a personal meeting with you, kanohi ki te kanohi. this isn’t an empty request across the internet. give me your phone number and address and i’ll come see you so we can talk about your comment face to face.

    and because i’ve already gone into several issues in this comments forum including: misappropriation of cultural property, intellectual property rights, and general education around the issues of ta moko versus kirituhi, I’d like to add another theme to the equation…

    blood quantums were originally created by Europeans as a way to divide humans from ‘sub-humans’. if you had enough ‘white’ blood, you were considered a conscious, thinking being rather than an animal. because blacks were considered animals in those times (aboriginal australians weren’t considered human, thus the term terra nullus was used when the first settlers arrived in australia, because in their eyes it was unoccupied), they weren’t allowed human rights unless they had sufficiently ‘white blood’ to allow them human status.

    thus, your contention that there are no full blood maori left is flawed from the outset. if i bleed, an the average joe bloggs in japan bleeds, my blood doesn’t run white while his runs yellow. that’s intensely racist of you to contend such a thing. blood is merely blood; it doesn’t differ between ‘races’ (a term which isn’t scientifically viable, mind you, it’s the term ‘ethnicity’ which is used today).

    whether you are 75%, 50%, 25%, or whatever percent, you’re no less something than anyone else if you live and breathe it.

    ko te maori ahau, and being white doesn’t change that fact. i was unaware that all maori had to be brown. and i was also unaware that the definition of maori is something to be stated by non-maori. i had enough abuse from jocks like you in high school to make me ignore my birthright and heritage for all of my formative years. it was only in university when i had a discussion with the kaitautoko maori of the social science school of massey university that i realized that the only people who questioned my ‘maoriness’ were pakeha, they weren’t maori. do you think my kuia and koroua cared i was white? did that stop them trying to take me as the first born whangai of my whanau?

    in fact, mason durie, the VC Maori of massey university and an authority on maori health, wrote extensively on the need for maori to stand up and assert to non-maori that it is maori, and only maori, who have the final say on what is an isn’t maori.

    so, true, you racist piece of shit, if you’d like to continue this discussion, you know my face. i live in palmerston north. come and see me sometime. you’ll see my tatts just before you see the curb.

  49. Jon P Avatar

    Hey True, since when were non-Maori the ones to decide what is and isn’t Maori?

    Full blood? Half blood? You know you’re referring to ‘Blood quantums’, right? Which are outdated and were originally created to distinguish humans from ‘sub-humans’, right?

    And shit, every fortnight when I go to get my sleeve worked on, I must be mistaken as to what’s happening. Couldn’t possibly be that I’m getting tattooed, right? RIGHT?

  50. Jon P Avatar

    Hey True, since when were non-Maori the ones to decide what is and isn’t Maori?

    Full blood? Half blood? You know you’re referring to ‘Blood quantums’, right? Which are outdated and were originally created to distinguish humans from ‘sub-humans’, right?

    And shit, every fortnight when I go to get my sleeve worked on, I must be mistaken as to what’s happening. Couldn’t possibly be that I’m getting tattooed, right? RIGHT?

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