Got my first tattoo, but know what kind of 'Maori' it is..

[mannyvinny]

Hey all, I recently got my first tattoo inked and I'm really really happy with it. I was hell confused on what to get tattooed, so my tattoo artist suggested me a Maori tattoo. I fell in love with the design and it's look.

I read through the internet that maori tattoos carries some unique meanings and symbol. There are various types of Maori designs and it's significance. Can someone pls tell me what kind of Maori design it is, the one I got tattooed?

Sent from my SM-N920C

[mannyvinny]

Few more pics for better view

Sent from my SM-N920C

[marley mission]

curious what you learn here about the design

i dig it though

[Naiemh]

It seems like a maori man with a moko. A moko is what you get when you, as a maori man, grown up to an adult. Moko = face tattoos, as the tattooed face in your arm.

That's all I know about it, hahaha.

Nice design, congrats!

[marley mission]

we could derail this thread a little and discuss an interesting topic

assigned tattoo meanings and their importance to the collector

cause i'm in the camp of believing that you dont have to connect to the assigned or known meanings attributed to an image to enjoy it

hey bonus if you do - but i dont think its essential

especially when you are purely attracted to the artists work and style from the 'gut impact' perspective

thoughts?

[Naiemh]

I 100% agree with you marley (how can I mention someone?). All of my tattoos have a meaning to me, but this meaning was not the reason to tattoo them. I mean, for the first one the meaning came before doing it, and it was one of the main reasons to tattoo it (the lotus flower), but for the other two tattoos, the meaning came after tattooing them. The main reason I tattooed them was because I loved the design and the artist, not the meaning, even when I can find meanings for them if I think about it, as they aesthetically represents me. The meanings were like an extra bonus, as you said :D

For me tattoos are, above all the rest, an aesthetic decision, as make-up, plastic surgeries, etc.

As a psychology student, I learned so much about non-verbal communication. Not just gestures, also the information you give to others just with the way you look. A person will not think the same about a tattooed person than a non-tattooed person.

With your tattoos, you're giving a lot of information from you to people. Tattoos are a huge choice to express yourself. As people express themselves with make-up, with clothes, with gestures, with button pins, we decided to express ourselves (our thoughts, our feelings, our ideologies, whatever), with tattoos. Because we all are social beings.

[marley mission]

@Naiemh is how to mention - use the at symbol and username

good post - yeah - in a way you cant escape the 'meaning' connection

you might not always be able to articulate in easy language

but the connection with image, idea, content

like you said - is generally revealing

though the meaning could be secondary in nature

like spinnng the tattoo wheel

your choice might not primarly reflect an interest or attraction you have to the piece

but it would maybe represent - your spontaneity and free spiritedness

btw havent done the spin the wheel yet

but a local shop has 80$ flash wheel

def want to give that a try

would be fun imo

anyway...

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@Naiemh is how to mention - use the at symbol and username

good post - yeah - in a way you cant escape the 'meaning' connection

you might not always be able to articulate in easy language

but the connection with image, idea, content

like you said - is generally revealing

though the meaning could be secondary in nature

like spinnng the tattoo wheel

your choice might not primarly reflect an interest or attraction you have to the piece

but it would maybe represent - your spontaneity and free spiritedness

btw havent done the spin the wheel yet

but a local shop has 80$ flash wheel

def want to give that a try

would be fun imo

anyway...

[Vivian]

I agree with PPs. I only have one tattoo so far, an arrow, and it was to cover up another tattoo. It has no special meaning to me, I just like the design. In a few days I'll be getting some wildflowers done on my leg because I think they're pretty and I think this artist will do a great job. Tattoos don't have to mean anything at all and they definitely don't need to mean what other people say they mean (unless perhaps it's a well-known symbol like the cross). I imagine that one day I'll connect something or another to my fairly meaningless tattoos, but for now they're just body art.

Not trying to say there's a problem learning about what op's tattoo means! I think knowledge about the design's history, use, and implications is extremely important and helpful.

[JBluewind]

Nice ink! It looks beautiful. :D

As far as symbolism is concerned, have you talked to your artist? They should at least be able to tell you where they got the different elements from so you can do further research on your own.

[mannyvinny]

My artist said, it's a Maori tattoo, but he didn't knew what KIND of Maori it is. We both were just looking for best Maori designs and found this one with few alteration done.

I may sound weird, but I don't believe in symbolism or any kind of goodness with a tattoo. I just loved the design, and hence I got it tattooed. I'm asking for more info because I should be aware of a permanent design tattooed on my arm. My friends said that Maori tattoos carries some unique meanings and symbol. Hence I got interested in knowing the meaning.

Sent from my SM-N920C

[JBluewind]

It doesn't sound weird at all. Knowledge is a powerful and fascinating thing. Where is the original design? Can you contact that person? Maybe you can find information on it if you Google image search the original design.

[pidjones]

Hope it isn't a threat or insult. Great design is one thing. Cultural design that may have symbols is another.

[Graeme]

As far as I know, facial moko is traditionally an identifier: the locations on the face that are tattooed as well as the different motifs in the tattoo tell about the wearer's social status and rank, family, where they come from, what they do, and so on. I don't know if yours is based on somebody's moko or whether it's cobbled together from different reference sources, or just elements that look typically Maori, but it's possible that you have essentially somebody's signature (an example of this can be found here) tattooed on your arm. Personally, I think that's pretty goofy.

[oboogie]

No offense, but I'd never get a tattoo without knowing what it meant.

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For the record, I don't think all tattoos have to be imbued with meaning. But I would want to know what it meant before I got it tattooed on me forever.

[LizBee]

As we can see in this thread, there are two ways it can go with a cultural design tattoo - you get it because it has significance for you as a link to your own heritage, or something similar, or you get it simply because you admire the visual of the design as art. I personally believe both are fine. You get what you get for your own reasons, and don't worry about what others think about it. They are not wearing the tattoo.

People do love to attach significance to tattoos, so when I'm out people seem to really need to know the deep meaning behind my tattoos. The names of my children, well, okay, that's obvious, but one of mine is just a design that I really, really like, and have always liked. That's it! Nothing more than that, but people are not satisfied with that, and up go the eyebrows, as if that is not adequate reason to get a tattoo. Well, for ME it is, and that's the person who matters in this particular situation.

However, if you think you might be upset by mistakenly getting something tattooed on you that, after the fact you learn through research, means something you do not like or you don't want to be associated with, like back in the 90's-00's Kanji days when you weren't sure what those characters might actually say, lol, then take the time and make sure about your design ahead of time. If you would still like the visual of the design artistically, even after knowing it meant something you don't identify with, then who cares? Go for what you like to look at.