Tattoo Tales

The Duncan family showing off our bison tattoos

I recently got a new tattoo to commemorate my year in New Zealand. It is of a kea, the world’s only alpine parrot. I had several entertaining interactions with them on many of my hikes around the South Island, most notably along the Kepler Track. (See the Birds of New Zealand Part I or any of my top hike rankings for more on the bird and my experiences with them.)

Tattoos, fittingly enough, play a big role in Māori culture as well. While I was in Russell, where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed as New Zealand’s founding constitutional document, I had the opportunity to see a large number of Māori: men with their faces tattooed in intricate curves, and the women with their lips and chin adorned. The tattooed locations and markings signify various things such as status and family.

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Paintings of Māori people from the Auckland Art Gallery, all by Gottfried Lindauer

Likewise, in Samoa, when I visited the cultural center, they had on display someone actively getting tattooed the traditional way, where they use a stick to manually tap a line of needles into the skin. Again, the shapes and location convey meaning beyond the aesthetic of the art itself.

Often, the first question asked about a tattoo is whether there’s a story behind it. My brother has a great tattoo of a heart with the words Hanky Panky scrawled across it. For the average viewer, it’s a very amusing tattoo, but it also holds a level of poignance as an ode to our childhood dog, Hank.

My brother's Hanky Panky tattoo

Sometimes, the story of getting the tattoo can be as interesting as the tattoo itself. Tattoo artists, themselves, tend to have a trove of fascinating stories as well. Mine shared conspiracy theories and told me about road trips he’s taken around the country.

Of course, many tattoos can be just for fun or just for art’s sake, just like any other artistic expression. A tattoo can be nothing more than that, but for many, willingness to endure the cost, the pain, and the permanence usually involves something of greater significance. Like scars, they have the potential to have a very good story behind them.

My kea tattoo

Tattoos can even be used as a storytelling vehicle in books. It reminds me of a Ray Bradbury set of short stories I was assigned in middle school called The Illustrated Man, where each tattoo on a man’s body spins its own tale.

I now have three tattoos. All of them are tied to travel and the outdoors. It makes me glad to wake up and be reminded of those experiences and of the impact they’ve had on me. I currently have no additional plans for more, so I will wait until I feel inspired again before getting another.