Mapping Our Souls

Titahi Bay-based tattoo artist Mark Kopua, 52, explains the meaning of t? moko in an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allegemeine. “I don’t have to say who I am … you can read it in my face,” Kopua says. [Ta moko] speaks about the life of our ancestors. I’m from the tribe Te Aitanga a Hauiti. It shows my role in society; who I am for my people. First of all, I am Te Aitanga a Hauiti, Ngati Ira and Ngati Porou. Then I am Maori. And then a New Zealander.” Kopua is also a carver and has worked on seven marae. During a 35-year-long career in Maori art he has also worked in paint, pen and paper, weaving, and kapahaka.