Tattoo

I’m headed to New Zealand in April, 2023 to receive a tradition Maori tribal tattoo from Rangi Kipa. The peha or puhoro goes from the knees to the natural waist, front and back, wrapping around the inner thighs. In Maori society, it is a warrior tattoo, a rite-of-passage tattoo, an explicit claiming of manhood and power. I am using it in the same way as part of my healing journey—to reclaim the masculine power robbed from by early childhood sexual abuse, to reclaim for myself the parts of my body appropriated by others when I was a child.

I’ll be making posts on this page, if you want to follow along on the tattoo journey.