The Origins of Tātatau in the Cook Islands
Tātatau in the Cook Islands reaches back long before the arrival of Christianity or European contact. Our understanding of its beginnings is carried through our oral histories, one of the most recognised being the story of Ina and the Shark. In this tale, Ina,overcome with anger, stomps upon fish and sea creatures, leaving them permanently marked. While this story does not describe tattooing in a literal sense,
it reflects an ancestral way of explaining how marks, identity, and transformation became part of the natural world.
It’s important to remember that the Cook Islands, as we know them today, were not a single collective until the late 18th century. Captain James Cook charted parts of our region between 1773 and 1777, naming them the Hervey Islands before they were later renamed in his honour. Before this grouping, each island held its own name, identity, and cultural practices. Some islands sit close together, while others are so widely dispersed that, if mapped today, they might easily fall within the cultural spheres of Samoa or Tokelau. Our shared linguistic threads make these ancestral connections clear.
In places like Mangaia, the depth of history runs even further. Oral traditions speak of early arrivals from Nuku Hiva and neighbouring islands in the Marquesas, some of the oldest settled lands in the Pacific.
It is entirely possible that the practice of embedding pigment into the skin, tātatau as we recognize it was carried here through these early navigators, blending with our own evolving cultural expressions.
These stories don’t claim a single origin. Instead, they remind us that our traditions were shaped by movement, exchange, and deep ancestral memory. They offer rich food for thought as we continue to honour, revive, and reinterpret tātatau in the Cook Islands today.
Pacific Ink - Stormy Tekura Marumaru Okianga Kara
Kia Ora, Kia Orana
Ko au te uri o Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga
Ngāti Koroki Kahukura
Ngapuhi
Ngāti Kaena ki Rarotonga
Ngāti Vara me Ngāti Tane ki Mangaia
E no’o ana au ki Rarotonga
Ko tōku ingoa ko Stormy Tekura Marumaru Okianga Kara
Kia Orana, my name is Stormy.
My little family and I are based in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, where I work as a kaitāmoko, kaiwhakairo, tangata tātatau, and all‑around haututu, a maker, a storyteller, and someone who is always creating with my hands.
I have been operating under Pacific Ink since 2004, carrying our traditions across different islands, communities, and generations. Over the years, this work has grown into a space where cultural practice, identity, and family legacy come together.
I specialise in Cook Islands Māori tātatau, Aotearoa Māori moko, and wider Polynesian tattoo traditions, honouring the shared threads of our Pacific ancestry while upholding the unique identity of each culture.
My passion is transforming whakapapa, papa‘anga, genealogy, and life stories into artwork for the skin, marking identity, memory, and belonging in ways that are deeply personal and culturally grounded.
A growing part of my journey is teaching the next generation. I have begun passing on the practice of tātatau to my partner Rudi, my niece Leviticus, and my son Iaveta, ensuring our knowledge and our hands continue forward through our own family line.
Below is a small selection of my work. It’s well overdue for an update, but it gives a glimpse into the styles and stories I carry. I’m not the strongest at the social media world, navigating our traditions safely online can be tricky, so I share what I can, when I can, and always with respect for our culture.
Kia Manuia
