There were lots of tears and I think I had the most, but they weren’t from pain. I’d originally asked for the traditional chisel, but Tu said it would hurt way more and take a lot longer, so he did it with the gun. It signals a commitment to my whakapapa, iwi, marae and language. I thought, ‘Why do I deserve it and why should I have it if they don’t? For me, a moko is a mark of huge honour and a mark of prestige, and with that comes huge responsibility. I was wary of what it would mean if I got one. t was more of a shock to my inner circles when they found out – and they didn’t believe I’d go through it. Before that, I was actually anti-getting one for myself. “It sparked the desire in me to get a moko kauae. I’m not a judgemental person so I didn’t want to throw stones at something I didn’t know.
There was a big uproar about her getting one as a pakeha woman, and her Maori husband giving her permission.
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He did a full facial moko on Mark Kopua, who is well-known in Maoridom for his own work and was Tu’s teacher. I love his work and he’s been doing it for quite some time. We went to my marae Kokohinau and met artist Turumakina ‘Tu’ Duley, who is also a distant relative. I drove down to Te Teko, in the Bay of Plenty, where my dad’s side comes from. In an interview in December 2019, she explained her experience of getting this tattoo. On January 6, 2019, she uploaded the pictures of the tattooing process on her Instagram handle with the caption,Ī post shared by Oriini Kaipara Moko Kauae tattoo represents the women’s whanau, and the authority, responsibility, status, and commitment towards the traditions, culture, and heritage. She got this tattoo inked in January 2019 after a DNA test in 2017 revealing that she is 100% Maori. Usually, these types of tattoos are worn by New Zealand’s Māori women to represent their culture and heritage. Meaning: Oriini Kaipara grabbed the attention of people from all over the world by becoming the first New Zealand journalist with the ‘Moko Kauae’ tattoo on her chin to host the prime-time news in 2019. Let’s scroll further to know the details. She has got several other similar tattoos on her body, representing her Maori culture. Such types of tattoos are highly sacred and are usually inked to present the culture and heritage. Oriini Kaipara is a New Zealand-based journalist and translator who made the headlines in 2019 by becoming the first person with a face tattoo (Moko Kauae) to host the prime-time news.