Meet authors Therese Mangos and John Utanga, along with photographer Kirsty Griffin. Enjoy a Cook Islands performance and win a copy of this important book.
About the book
The art of Pacific tattooing has enjoyed a popular resurgence in recent years. Just look at the number of All Blacks sporting amazing works of art on their bodies.
Patterns of the Past: Tattoo Revival in the Cook Islands traces the history and practice of tātatau (tattooing) in the Cook Islands. The authors tap into the ancient oral traditions of the Cook Islands, reports of often repressive early Western visitors, and rich archival material.
The book is not just a survey of the past. It also examines the renaissance of this art form through the eyes of some its most important contemporary tātatau artists.
Supplemented with over 250 contemporary and historical images of traditional Cook Islands design and heritage art, this is a vivid, beautiful, and important work. It provides the first comprehensive examination of Cook Islands tātatau and celebrates how the art form is impacting on a generation searching for symbols of its own identity.
Patterns of the Past: Tattoo Revival of the Cook Islands will be available for sale on the day. Get your copy signed by the authors!
Buy Patterns of the Past online
About the authors and photographer
Therese Mangos is a New Zealand-born Cook Islander and a former member of Creative New Zealand’s Pacific Arts Committee. John Utanga is a Cook Islands journalist and currently works for Tagata Pasifika. Kirsty Griffin if one of New Zealand’s leading stills photographers.
Listen to a conversation with author Therese Mangos
Visit the website of photographer Kirsty Griffin