Book Review—The Hawai’ian Tattoo by P.F. Kwiatkowski

By Matty Jankowski

Just when you think you’ve seen it all… And so it goes with being content in finding rich source material that appears to be a definitive work on a tattoo topic. Such is the case with Hawaiian tattoos. Until recently Hawai’ian tattoo information and images were only found as obscure references in rare out of print books and even harder to find academic publications. I was overjoyed to find a copy of The Hawaiian Tattoo by P.F. Kwiatkowski (kakaukii@hawaiiantel.net). This privately published labor of love was only sold locally in Hawaii and according to the author it was officially out of print (for a short time). The book explores the history of tattooing in Hawai’i and Polynesia. Taking into account techniques, designs and the relationship to spirits and states of fancy, grief and shame. The 1996 paperback originally sold for $11.95, but various online auctions and used book sources were selling them at well over $100.00. It was only a matter of time till Kwiatkowski had a new batch rolling off the press. Yet there were plenty of impatient bibliophiles lining up and happy to get a copy at any price.

The Hawaiian Tattoo

P. F. Kwiatkowski

Halona, Inc.

Soft cover, 75 pages, $11.95

www.nativebookshawaii.com

Native Books (www.nativebookshawaii.com) is a community resource, focused on distributing the best Hawai’ian books, music and DVDs on Hawai’i and the Pacific. Their priority is presenting culturally sensitive and accurate information on Hawaiian history, language, hula, navigation, mo’olelo and other areas of Island interest. This Hawaiian Internet bookseller will make getting your own copy a breeze.

About the Author

P.F. Kwiatkowski, better known as “Ski,” is of Polish, Hawaiian and Portuguese descent. He is the author of Na Ki’I

Ski by Tricia Allen

Pohanku, a book about Hawaiian petroglyphs. His interests have always centered on Hawaiian culture and have been the driving force behind countless hours of research on subjects as diverse as Hawaiian flora and fauna, language, history, petroglyphs and, of course, Hawaiian tattooing. The Hawaiian Tattoo is the result of exhaustive research detailing the history of the ancient Polynesian art of tattooing. The book details the significance of the designs, their origins, techniques, terminology and their evolution. All the above are explained in a format that is easy to read and understand. Until the publication of this book, there was no other definitive work on the subject. To illustrate his book, Ski enlisted the Hawaiian artist Tom O’oMehau, whose critically acclaimed pen-and-ink drawings have been displayed at countless galleries, educational institutions and the subject of Public Television’s “Spectrum” series. The Big Island artist O`o Mehau lends his artistic brilliance and talent in the crisp detailed and historically accurate illustrations. While tattoos are popular in many parts of the world, their renaissance in Hawai’i is related to South Pacific traditions that were popular in the islands until banned by missionaries. Even on the island of Moloka’I, victims of what was once called leprosy had their own tattoo designs.

The book includes many archival photographs and drawings of tattooed Hawaiians and O`o Mehau’s careful presentation of specific geometric designs from the Hawaiian school of tattoo. Mehau also presents his own illustrations of Hawaiians with tattoos. Many of them are styled after earlier works by documentarians that visited Hawai’i, including Jacques Arago, who visited Hawai’i in 1819 and noted that “Queen Ka’ahumanu’s legs, the palm of her left hand and her tongue are very elegantly tattooed.” He also noted that, on O’ahu, men were tattooed with one side of their bodies completely black, as if burnt, and the other side without tattoo. These men were believed to be warriors.

Finger tattoos, wrist tattoos, palm, chest and leg tattoos are shown in detail. The writing compares Hawaiian tattoos with those of Tahiti, Tonga and other South Pacific islands. Relationships to place in society and different tattoo designs are also discussed.

Hawaiians used tattoos to signify ‘aumakua, to show a warriors strength, to express grief –often by tattooing on the tongue—or to brand slaves, or kauwa. These brands were placed on the face, around the eyes, and signified this caste as chiefly property. Defeated warriors were sometimes tattooed on the inside of their eyelids as an additional insult.

In an interview with Ski published in Hawaii’s Star Bulletin, Burl Burlingame wrote: One night, while driving home along Mamalahoa Highway on the Big Island, Kwiatkowski found a dense fog shrouding the road ahead. He slowed, when a pair of glowing eyes appeared in the mist, ahead of his pickup truck. But it was too late. A disoriented Hawaiian owl rocketed out of the mist and slammed headlong into the truck. Pueo, the owl, is one of Kwiatkowski’s ‘aumakua, a kind of family spirit or totem, and it pained him that the animal died. He pulled over and, in the darkness and mist, buried the owl with a small cairn of stones. He apologized to the owl’s spirit and continued on his journey.

A short distance down the highway, Kwiatkowski came upon a nasty accident at the Waikoloa Intersection. Had he not paused to bury the owl, he could have slammed headlong into the crumpled cars, much as his ‘aumakua had done to him. Kwiatkowski pulls up his pants leg to show an elaborate tattoo riding up his right thigh: a mosaic of triangles, dots and diamonds and, above it all, the outline of a stocky bird in flight. “Pueo,” he said. “My ‘aumakua. Thanks to the owl, I’m still here.”

Some sixteen years ago, Ski began to work on his own body canvas, tattooing designs on himself and turning to his wife, Darlene, for parts of the body he could not reach. He finds the experience of making tattoos and having them done on him is solely “for the spirit of it.” He makes his own needles, some of which are sewing needles, some ivory and some albatross bones. “Unlike chicken bones, albatross bones are water-and-ink-proof and hold their edge,” said Kwiatkowski. “And they’re much less painful than an electric needle.”

Ski and his wife currently resides in the Kohala Mountains, with three cats one dog and a chicken named Chicken (kakaukii@hawaiiantel.net)

To wrap things up, here are a few words from Ski, on the subject of Hawaiian tattoos. “Don’t be fooled by traditions that don’t exist, always follow your inner voice when choosing and getting a tattoo, think before ink, sleep on it a long time, then do what you want. It’s your body, and it may be your design or design that you have had help in creating, but it will be yours and on your skin for the rest of your life.”

Aloha,

Matty J.

Questions or comments? Contact Matty at nuovaarte@aol.com.