Wellington - New Zealand journalist Oriini Kaipara made history
on Thursday when she became the first newsreader to present a news
bulletin on mainstream television adorned with a moko kauae, a
traditional Maori facial tattoo.
While full facial tattoos are reserved for men, the female moko kauae
is traditionally limited to the chin, lips and the area above the
upper lip.
The 35-year old journalist, who got her moko in January after she
discovered she had "100 percent Maori ancestry," told TVNZ the tattoo
was very personal and was a commitment to the indigenous language te
reo Maori.
Ocean Mercier, head of Victoria University's School of Maori Studies,
told local media platform Stuff that seeing someone bearing a moko
kauae on the state broadcaster was "a pretty awesome signal of how
far society has come in terms of accepting expression of culture."
While the chin-tattoos were prominent in photos of women from around
the time of New Zealand's colonization, they had become less common
as there was "shame attached to them that's associated with
colonisation," Mercier said.
In 2016, Nanaia Mahuta became the first member of the New Zealand
parliament to wear a moko kauae.
"People look at you differently. It's a cultural marker, and it says
clearly when I'm sitting round a table that I represent a certain way
of thinking," the veteran politician, who has been a lawmaker for 20
years, said in an interview.