Recent mahi moko in Porirua, Wellington

It has been very healing and grounding to have been based in Porirua, Wellington, my tribal homeland, for the past four months or so.

Thanks to all my local clients and those that traveled from afar to get tattooed by me in recent months.

My recent TE TAUIHU taa moko summer tour

Thank you so much to all of my clients in Nelson, Blenheim, Taakaka and Kaikoura that I recently tattooed during my summer Te Tauihu tour, it was great to see you all!

Moko kauae in Hamilton this winter

I was thrilled to recently be invited to Hamilton to do this moko kauae in the home of the recipient, surrounded by a good 80+ whānau members and friends.

With the lady of the day, and Benita Tahuri on the left.

With Benita Tahuri and my partner Jerome Kavanagh.

Very grateful to have been gifted this book on the trip.

Toi Wāhine 2015: a pop up exhibition of 7 female artists coming soon to Porirua!

Sian Montgomery-Neutze, Rangimarie Sophie Jolley, Taryn Beri, Miriama Grace-Smith, Xoe Hall, and Pikihuia Haenga-Carkeek at our first wānanga together in preparation for the exhibition. Our jewellery artist Keri-Mei Zagrobelna was in Europe when we took this photo but she will be back in December in time for our exhibition opening!

Due to open on 2nd December in Hartham Place, Porirua, this exhibition is set to be a diverse, unpredictable and exciting mix of seven young Māori female artists. Included in Toi Wāhine 2015 are female painters, moko artists, a writer, a jewellery designer and a film maker, all with some kind of affiliation to and affection for Porirua City.

The idea was born from seeing a call for proposals that was put out by Letting Space's service Urban Dream Brokerage, a radical and conscious organisation that makes use of empty and vacant shop spaces, transforming them for a short time into living, breathing, useful community based spaces.

Our exhibition will open on Wednesday 2nd December and run through till Tuesday 22nd December (please mark it in your calendars). Located under the canopies in Porirua by where childrens clothing store 'TnT' used to be! Details of the official opening event are still to come, so if you are interested then please stay posted (join my mailing list).

An exciting programme of events is currently being developed by our group, with each individual artist running a workshop for the public to come along and participate in, learn, share and contribute. Live tā moko will also be happening in the exhibition space throughout the three week period, including moko kauae.

Contributing artists in Toi Wāhine 2015 are:

Xoe Hall (muralist, glitterist and painter)
Sian Montgomery-Neutze (multimedia artist, painter and moko artist)
Miriama Grace-Smith (multimedia artist and fashion designer)
Keri-Mei Zagrobelna (jewellery artist)
Rangimarie Sophie Jolley (writer)
Taryn Beri (multimedia artist, painter and moko artist)
Pikihuia Haenga-Carkeek (experimental film maker)

So far our group has had two wānanga, sharing ideas and making art together, with more wānanga scheduled to come in the lead up to the opening of the exhibition.

Sian Montgomery-Neutze at our first wānanga toi.

Miriama Grace-Smith at our first wānanga toi.

Rangimarie Sophie Jolley at our first wānanga toi.

Xoe Hall at our first wānanga toi.

We will have interactive installations, paintings and prints for sale, community workshops, live tā moko happening onsite and lots of other fun and awesome things happening over the three weeks - more details to come.

I hope you can make it along to check it out, participate and support the kaupapa!

Mauriora,
Taryn Beri

Moko kauae: a sneak peek

I recently spent about a week tattooing in Taihape at Winiata Marae. In general I mostly prefer to stay within my own rohe, and work within areas that I have some whakapapa link or affiliation to (except when I am overseas) - that's just how I prefer to roll whenever possible. However since my partner invited me to work in his rohe at his marae, I was more than happy to pack up my gear and head to Taihape. Furthermore, marae are one of my absolute favorite places to work, along with galleries and museums, so I jumped at the chance to work inside the whare there. As it happened, I did discover a link between my extended whānau and the whānau at Winiata Marae.

It was snowing and really freezing cold the week that we were there, as you can tell by my attire! It's hard to stay fashionable when you are so cold!

Whilst in Taihape I had the pleasure and privilege of tattooing a moko kauae for a local kuia. For me, moko kauae is the epitome of my tā moko practice and it is my favorite type of moko to do. Moko kauae has always been a strong motivating force for me and a large part of why I got into, and have stuck at tā moko. I want to see more and more wāhine Māori take on and wear their moko kauae with pride, strength and dignity - particularly within my own whānau, hapū and iwi. 

Some friends of mine at Kikorua Films came and stayed with us for part of our trip and made a little film clip and took some photos. I think they did a great job of capturing the essence of the environment we were working in, and the mahi that we did there.

Moko kauae is a very special and important kaupapa. If you would like to talk me about getting your own moko kauae done, please email me on taryn.teuira@gmail.com.

Thanks for reading!