Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei got her first tattoo at 20. Now, at 47, just a year younger than her beloved father Richard was when he died, she has had his memory etched on her arm, in the form of a ta moko.
The tattoo – which also features elements that represent herself, her daughter Piupiu and her husband Worik Stanton – is proudly displayed on her left forearm. On her right arm, a newly inked tattoo pays tribute to Metiria’s mother Janice, her sister Tania, and her nieces and nephews.
They are, says Metiria, both a reflection of the demanding, itinerant lives politicians lead and a long-held desire to add to that first tattoo, a “somewhat wonky” DIY job on her upper back, done in a friend’s garage 27 years ago.
“My lifestyle means I pretty much spend half my time, sometimes more, away from home,” explains Metiria, who splits her time between her family abode in Dunedin and an apartment in Wellington. “I’ve been in politics, only living half at home, for 15 years now, so I felt a need to carry those closest to me wherever I go.”
The works are also a permanent reminder of her roots and of the connections she has with the Manawatu, where she was born and raised. Metiria fondly recalls her dad letting her and her mates ride on the back of his ute to a swimming hole on the Pohangina River, where Richard would wash while the kids would hunt for eels and cockabullies.
An unfinished old-school navy-style tattoo of a dagger that her father had was the inspiration for the inking on Metiria’s left arm. Designed by her brother-in-law, and applied by Dunedin master carver and ta moko artist James York, the piece features a taiaha spear, symbolising Metiria’s dad, in place of the dagger.
Wrapped around it are two manaia (guardians) representing Metiria and 24-year-old Piupiu, as well as two rivers, the Whanganui and the Ruamahanga, while a small Celtic hound acknowledges the English, Irish and Scottish ancestry of her husband Worik.
Art from the heart: The new tattoo on Metiria’s right arm is an intricate tribute to the precious women in her life.
“I was very close to my dad,” says Metiria. “I’d always had this idea that it would be great to have a bit of him with me. He was a farm labourer for most of his life, a good, solid worker, but he suffered very badly from the economic reforms of the ’80s and was basically rendered unemployable for almost the rest of his life. He died very young, in 1995. He was only 48.
“There was a lot of discrimination at that time around being an unemployed middle-aged Maori man and I don’t think a lot of us really understand how that sort of thing affects a person’s wellbeing. He died of a stroke after a lifetime of trying to live an ordinary, decent life. I think lots of Maori men of his age and generation found they suddenly didn’t matter to anybody.”
Those men, she says, are the core reason she’s in politics. “My role is to make sure those people are always present through me.”
Her most recent tattoo, which took “more than five hours of ouch”, is about the women in her life. It was designed and drawn by one of the country’s few female ta moko proponents, Paihia’s Paitangi Ostick.
Metiria had spotted her work on the drive to this year’s Waitangi Day celebrations and instantly fell in love with it. She says, “I had half of my whanau represented and felt I needed the other half as well.”
Metiria and her daughter Piupiu.
Body of work
This time, she gave the artist some licence, requesting only that the design include some traditional Maori taniko weaving patterns to denote her mum, and five eels for Tania and her family, as well as the Tararua Ranges and Mount Ruapehu.
“I particularly love the flax weaving in the taniko,” says Metiria. “My mum is really creative. She taught me how to sew, knit and crochet, and how to do taniko, and this is just a beautiful representation of that.”
While the eels may not be everyone’s cup of tea, the creatures have been a lifelong fascination for Metiria, whose recent “tuna tour” of the country’s most polluted waterways aimed to highlight the plight of our native longfin eel.
“Yes, they are slimy and a bit disgusting, but they are wonderful, magical creatures,” she smiles. “They have an amazing life story.”
Although there may not be many leaders of political parties getting tattoos, Metiria points out that inkings are increasingly popular with “older ladies” and that ta moko is now an internationally respected art form.
“Not only do they have huge meaning for the owner, but they are also beautiful pieces of art,” she adds. “I’m really pleased with mine. Some people hide their tattoos away, but mine are in a place I can always see them and it feels like I carry my family with me now.”
Words: Julie Jacobson
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