Maori Art Essay -- essays research papers fc

When looking at Maori art, there is one thing that sticks out amongst everything else with me, and with most likely everyone that sees it for the first time, this is their tattooing skills. They are equipped with many other art skills such as their carvings, weaponry, and townhouses, but the tattoos represent the tribe as a whole and are visible on the people themselves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The art of tattoo was brought to New Zealand by the Polynesians when they migrated to New Zealand. Men of the tribe are more elaborately tattooed than the women. Their entire faces may be covered as opposed to the women who may only have certain parts of their faces covered such as their chins, cheeks, upper lips, and between the eyebrows. This is to show the dominance in ranking of the men over the women. The fact that the women cannot advance as far as the men shows how that the Maori felt when it came to male dominance over the women.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Other parts of the body can also be tattooed and other colors such as red and blue have been used to tattoo as opposed to just black. The body Moko (tattoos) is used to mark achievements personally in one's life, and also achievements physically such as puberty. Again, these techniques are less practiced in women than in men.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Overall, the tattoos are used to recognize who the people are in each tribe. They specify things such as rank and faith. There are eight ranks among the Maor...