From Hawaii To Samoa: Tattoos That Go Beyond Skin Deep. Sabrina Talbert. Sun, June 1, 2025 at 7:00 AM UTC. 10 min read.

Looney, who also owns the Pacific Soul Tattoo shop on Ward Avenue, helped to create the exhibit in his spare time. He said his shop is one of two on Oahu that does traditional Samoan tattooing.

How the Samoan Tattoo Survived Colonialism. Several factors, from geography to group identity, helped this traditional body art endure—even as similar practices were lost in other cultures.

Traditional Samoan female tattoo by Su’a Sulu’ape Peter. “Tatau: Marks of Polynesia” will be at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles July 30-Jan. 8.

Su’a Sulu’ape Paulo III, the sixth-generation Samoan hand-tap tattoo master leaning over me, paused to see if my movement was due to pain. I’d been in Samoa for a month, ...

DTLA - Tattoos may be omnipresent today, but the taboo around them hasn’t quite faded away. They were long considered uncouth in the western world and some Asian cultures still ...

Women’s tattoos depict such images as: centipedes, birds, plants, shells and hair combs. These icons vary from the male tattoo, but are equally powerful, positive images drawn from life in Samoa.

Soldier is first to get approval for traditional Samoan hand tattoos. Jonathan Lehrfeld, Jon Simkins. Mon, June 3, 2024 at 7:36 PM UTC. 5 min read.

For Samoan designs, the patterns typically represent different animals or earth-related structures, which can be assigned different meaning, but ultimately, it's up to the one getting the tattoo ...

Army Capt. Isis Sake is the first soldier to receive a religious accommodation for traditional Samoan hand tattoos. (Jon Simkins/Staff) Small arrows, birds and stars adorn the tops of the soldier ...

Su’a Sulu’ape Paulo III, the sixth-generation Samoan hand-tap tattoo master leaning over me, paused to see if my movement was due to pain. I’d been in Samoa for a month, ...