Tattooed Me

I’ve wanted to get a tattoo for quite a long time. I always planned on the design being based on one of my favourite parts of rongopai, pr 3, 5 and 6. Last year when I was thinking again about it, I decided that having a visible tattoo was more of a public declaration than a visual reminder for me. I like the idea of people seeing it and wanting to know what it means, giving me an opportunity to explain things that are important to me in a non-confronting way.

I had an idea of the design earlier this year and shared my plans with a friend who is of Greek parentage and speaks the language. Since the phrase I chose (part of ro 4 17) is from the Greek portion of rongopai, I decided to tattoo it in Greek once I’d confirmed that it did mean what I thought it meant. I think that having it in Greek makes the phrase a little less confronting for those of other beliefs (at least those who can’t read Greek!), and as I suggested, seems to encourage people to ask the meaning. Re 19 says Tama has a tattoo on his thigh. Does anyone know what language?

When it came to the design, I liked the idea of including something to identify my nationality. I’ve spent a third of my life overseas but I’m kiwi by birth and I hope, kiwi by nature. While not Maori (see earlier post!), there are symbols in Maori art that reflect NZ nature, and one that I like is the koru. Koru is the Maori word used for the unfurling fern frond commonly seen in NZ bush. It symbolises new life (physical and spiritual), growth, strength and peace. I liked the fit with the phrase as it points towards some of the key aspects of rongopai, particularly new life.

So I did a bit of basic research on the web and via word-of-mouth to find out who was who in the Wellington world of tattoo. There were two places that seemed to have the best reputations, one particularly for an artist, but they were booked out for the next few months. I visited the other place and chatted with an artist, Dee about my goal. He took some money for me and agreed to draw up a few designs for me to consider. Well, I walked in that day thinking about a design the size of tennis ball, and all in the standard ink colour. The designs he came up with were MUCH bigger and very colourful, and of course a lot more expensive, but they captured me instantly. I chose one, and we started last Friday. He spent 2.5h on the koru portion of the image. Because of the intricacy of the lettering and my insistence that it was the most important part, he wanted to do it on a separate occasion when neither of us is fatigued. So, I have an estimated 3h of needling to go this Thursday.

Getting a tattoo is painful but from all accounts (and I’ve heard quite a few recently), it feels different to everyone, and we all have a different pain threshold and emotional response. Some people swear, some grit their teeth, others cry and still others pass out. I was told the trick to avoid that one was to eat junk food and drink coke. So I did. The fastest I’ve chewed a Whittaker’s almond slab ever. The outline feels sort of like a cat scratch – quite painful enough to be mad at the cat but it’s forgotten by the time the cat snuggles. The problem is that the cat keeps scratching. Over and over. Fortunately not in the same spot, so it’s bearable. Dee then told me that he was going to start colouring in. He said that it would be less painful even possibly soothing in comparison. Relief! Ah, no. It was SO much more painful. How could anyone possibly find 15 needles stabbing at once less painful than 1?? It was the sort of pain that I had to laugh at (in a high-pitched breathy sort of way) or I would have ripped my leg out of his grip. Particularly painful around the softer fleshy parts too, which I thought beforehand would be less painful……just goes to show that there is no rules. Everyone’s different.

Postscript. The second part of this tattoo was very very very painful. Much more so than the first day. For future reference, if you ever get a tattoo, arrange it so you get it all done at once. Tattooing over tattooed tissue feels like someone is slicing your already tender flesh open with a scalpel.

Comments welcome :)