This Polynesian Cruise Ship Has a Resident Tattoo Artist | Travel

Born on the 40-square-mile island of Ua Pou within the Marquesas, Eddy Tata realized to attract by watching his Uncle Moana Kohumoetini tattoo. “He was the primary tattoo artist in our household,” says Tata, who at 17 years previous began tattooing his personal pores and skin beneath his uncle’s steering. Tata’s first ink was a Marquesan cross on his left forearm. By age 30, he accomplished the required coaching course to tattoo others.

Tata’s childhood ardour for drawing alongside his uncle has led to a celebrated profession as a extremely sought-after Polynesian tattoo artist. Presently, Tata is the resident tattoo artist on the Aranui 5, a passenger-freighter vessel making 14-day voyages between Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands. The 410-foot-long ship is the primary lifeline for carrying provides and vacationers across the six islands of Marquesas, and goals to immerse passengers within the tradition of French Polynesia. Ninety-seven p.c of the workers and crew are Polynesian and hail from all 5 archipelagos in French Polynesia. The ship presents lectures on Marquesas historical past, tradition and archeology in addition to cultural enrichment courses on native dances and songs, making shell leis, and the Marquesan and Tahitian languages. Because the onboard tattoo artist, Tata offers passengers with customized Polynesian-style tattoos based mostly on their life tales.

Tattooing has been practiced for at least 2,000 years all through French Polynesia, which contains 118 islands stretching over 1,200 miles within the South Pacific Ocean. Older proof exists of the Egyptians, Inuits and Celts utilizing comparable physique markings courting again to the Neolithic era. However the fashionable phrase for worn everlasting artwork on the pores and skin is derived from the French Polynesian phrase tatau, which suggests “to mark.”

“Polynesian tattoos are a non-writing custom and an Indigenous system of communication,” says Tahiarii Pariente, a Polynesian cultural professional from the island of Raiatea, the second largest of the Society Islands, after Tahiti. He’s a researcher, practitioner and lecturer of Polynesian arts and organizes journey experiences across the islands.

Historically, the daring geometric symbols utilized in Polynesian tattoos informed the non-public historical past and societal rank of the Tahitian who wore them. Up to now, the motifs diversified from island to island. “In Polynesia, every archipelago had its personal motifs however with the arrival of the missionaries, all the symbols within the different archipelagoes have been destroyed, besides within the Marquesas,” explains Tata. As an example, a shark’s tooth represents power, the sky symbolizes spirituality, and waves stand for journey and the ocean. Tata wears an emblem referred to as Ipu. “It represents the universe, energy, aura, but in addition a lady’s intercourse since every little thing originates from there,” says Tata.

Repetitive summary symbols mixed with nature motifs, corresponding to turtles, sharks, ferns, flowers, shells, the solar and the moon, are frequent, and most of the designs incorporate ancestral tales. “The turtle typically represents peace and longevity. However, in a sure household, they may have a narrative with an ancestor that was saved by a turtle, so a brand new that means is created. A typical image will get reworked into an distinctive image,” Pariente says. Tata wears a turtle and explains that the scales of the turtle’s shell are what particularly symbolize longevity.

Based on Pariente, it’s customary for males to put on Polynesian tattoos from their higher knees to decrease again whereas girls normally tattoo their fingers. The position of the tattoos additionally will depend on an individual’s household and occupation. His spouse, for example, is a masseuse and has her hand tattooed, however a instructor could get her decrease lip tattooed. “The tattoo can be an ID card,” says Pariente. “It is a very distinctive, private, highly-customized component of your life and other people acknowledge you due to your tattoo.” He wears a number of tattoos on his proper arms from Tata that symbolize navigation.“You possibly can see from afar and acknowledge it’s me.”

The Aranui 5, which launched in 2015, transformed one of many therapeutic massage rooms in its spa right into a tattoo studio in 2017. On the time, Kohumoetini, who now helps handle the ship’s restaurant, was the onboard tattoo artist. Tata began working within the restaurant on Aranui 5 in July 2016. He started tattooing the crew and, by 2017, joined his uncle as a resident tattoo artist for passengers. Based on Romina Wong, director of Aranui Cruise operations, the corporate is the one cruise ship on this planet to have a conventional Polynesian tattoo artist on board. Virgin Voyages is among the solely different cruise ships with an onboard tattoo parlor.

Tata inks specialty designs of historic symbols and figures on passengers at his onboard studio, Taheiona Patutiki (taheiona being a mixture of his kids’s names and patutiki that means tattoo or tattooing within the native Polynesian language of the Marquesas). He sees his service as a means for vacationers to commemorate their time in Polynesia—conveniently as they await their passage to their subsequent vacation spot. His motivation is humble; he needs to make use of his skills and artwork to attach with individuals from across the globe. Tata averages 15 tattoos per week—about 700 a yr between his non-public clientele on land and passengers onboard the Aranui 5.

Throughout the cruise, Tata meets with passengers to design their tattoos based mostly on their life tales. “I first talk about with the consumer to seek out out what he’d wish to symbolize,” says Tata. “All of the items I make are distinctive to the particular person carrying them. The tattoos inform their story, their experiences, and their emotions. However the symbols used are all the identical. It’s the symbols and placement collectively that tells the story.”

Tata is captivated with transcribing passengers’ private histories onto their pores and skin by way of the tattoos of his ancestors. “They inform their very own story, like in a guide that they will preserve for all times inked on their pores and skin,” Tata says.

A tattoo that stands out to Tata as being one of the vital memorable he’s carried out is a Marquesan sleeve on Australian traveler Brant Tapley. “We actually stayed within the spirit of the standard Marquesan symbols. There was a superb feeling between us,” Tata says. Tapley spent two weeks on the Aranui 5 in late November of 2019 exploring the Marquesas Islands. Tapley had been longing to get a tattoo however was by no means positive what he wished to completely etch onto his physique till he met Tata. “We spoke at nice size about what I wished the tattoo to symbolize,” Tapley says. Tata supplied Tapley a sketch of his interpretation of the themes they mentioned. “His potential to completely interpret what I felt and wished it to symbolize was unbelievable,” says Tapley, who feels that the tattoo has given him inner power. He’s a bit secretive in the case of its symbolism. “It’s a private story. Solely Eddy, myself and my girlfriend know what it actually means,” Tapley says.

The freehand tattoo took about six hours to finish. Tapley’s honored to put on ink created by a Marquesan within the Marquesas, the place the historical past of tattooing extends again millenia. “Each time I see it, it jogs my memory of that point and the individuals I met,” Tapley says. He and Tata keep in contact, and he intends to return to Aranui 5 in the future to broaden the tattoo.