Malu

The Malu 

The Malu is a female tattoo which covers the legs from just below the knee just below the buttocks. It is a fine and delicate design. The malu means to be protected and sheltered. Usually this tattoo is for the chief's daughter to wear the malu and is applied to the young women in the years following puberty. 

Women with the malu are expected to perform key ceremony tasks and represent their families and villages on ceremonial occasions. The daughter of a high chief who is to become the villages TAUPOU.

Over the past years the significance of the malu has shifted. In New Zealand and Australia, the malu is increasingly an important symbol of Samoan cultural identity rather than only a signifier of a person's ability to carry out specific Samoan ceremonial roles

One story of how tatau came to Samoa 

Taema and Tilafaiga were female siamese twins who were joined at the spine. When the twins were grown, they decided to travel away from Ta'u, the island of their birth. As they were swimming, the spar of a canoe struck them and severed the join between them. After several adventures on other islands, the twins reached Fiji where they meet two tatau (tattoo) artists, Tufou and Filelei, who taught them the art of tattooing. They also taught them a song (or a spell according to some sources) to recite when they were tattooing someone. When the twins returned to Samoa, Tilafaiga became a war goddess, while Taema became a tattooist and teacher of the art that she had learned in Fiji.

This is a little history about how the Malu came to Samoa. 

Using Ipad as a Light Sorce

    Light Source Research 

Good use of lighting if you don't have the equipment on hand. Just incase we need to do last minute experiments and testers if the studio isn't available. 

Artist Research

GREG SEMU

Greg Semu is a self taught photographer and film maker of Samoan descent. In the 70's his family moved to New Zealand.Greg Semu was based in  Greg Semu looks at the idea of colinisation in particular. Greg looks at the idea of the introduction of Christian religion to the pacific region.

Greg Semus first residency was at Musee du Quai Branly in Paris, France in 2007. In 2008 Greg took up an artist residency at Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland New Zealand.

Greg's practice looks at the depiction at Pacific people as exotic, primitive savages within religious and artistics texts citing the curatorial practices of museums and institutions as perpetrators of problematic stereotyping. Greg's focus is upon the loss of accuracy in storytelling and authentic culture through cultural displacement.

I noticed a lot of Greg Semu's work uses a nice type of lighting through his work. Greg has a strong setup in this series of work "The Last Cannibal Supper". This series of work presented for the first time in Europe. 

Taupo Costume

TUIGA (Head piece) 

This is the traditional head dress. Wearing the tuiga is a priviledge it represented rank and status. In the past when a tribe would go to war the tuiga was worn by chiefs. Over the time  the tuiga became a symbol of status that can be worn by the chiefs manai (son) or the taupou (daughter) at important village ceremonies.  

Taupo Dance Dress

materials: Leaf, shells, bark strip, husk and feathes 

The son or daughter of a Samoan Chief would dress in  a full on outfit for the taualuga performance. As you can see it is traditional finely woven ie' toga mat decorated with feathers that were collared from the blue-crowned lorikeet that wraps around the waist of the dancer. The matt is usually secured by a tapa sash called a "vala" or "fusi" and they usually wore layers and layers of mats and tapa. 

Today most fine mats are less delicate than the traditional matts now it is seen very rare in Samoan, they are only seen in museums and private collections. 

ULA NIFO (Necklace that is word)

This necklace is most valued in Samoan culture. The necklace is traditionally worn by cheifs and their offspring. Anciently the Ula Nifo was a symbol of wealth and status. 

Samoan Siva Research

This semester I really want to look into my identity and my culture as a Samoan. I really enjoy my culture and one thing I've always wanted to look into was the Samoan Siva. The Samoan Siva is a traditional Samoan dance it requires the dancer to retain grace in the movement of her arms and hands which are so subtle but at a delicate manner. In earlier times, high chiefs or Matais performed this special dance but modern day it is performed by the Taupou which is a ceremonial hostess that is selected by a high chief of a Samoan village from the young girls in his household elevated to a high rank. I want to look into the movements and the beauty and grace that the young girls carry with them. They do not just carry that but also their family and heritage in this dance with them. Samoans are so proud of who they are and I've fallen in love with that. Researching about this project may help me come closer to my roots.

I really like the way the Taupou moves and I want to learn about the dance and costume everything that will go into this dance. I want to show the beauty and grace through some of the photography that I will be doing with Peter. So we may look into different types of lighting for this project.

 Image that utilizes a slow shutter speed. 

Moa was running past the camera and I managed to capture a blur image of him. 

ISO: 100

FSTOP: 16.0

SHUTTER: 1/15

 Catching an image that utilizes fast shutter speed to freeze movement. 

ISO: 100

FSTOP: 5.6

SHUTTER: 1/250

Deep depth of field 

ISO: 100 

FSTOP: 5.0

SHUTTER: 1/200

Shallow depth of Field 

ISO: 100

FSTOP: 5.6

SHUTTER: 1/320

Ihumatao Field Trip

ISO: 100

FSTOP: 5.0

SHUTTER: 1/200

In this image I wanted to work with depth of field and try to focus closely onto the tree along with blurring the rocks in the image. 

ISO: 100

FSTOP: 5.0

SHUTTER: 1/640

In this image I tried to edit on bridge to give the sky more detail I think that I let too much light in 

the image as we can't see much detail in the image. 

 ISO: 100

FSTOP: 5.6

SHUTTER: 1/320

 ISO: 100

FSTOP: 9.0

SHUTTER: 1/200

Here I edited again to give the sky a lot more detail than it had before I edited the image on bridge. 

ISO: 100

FSTOP: 5.0

SHUTTER: 1/500

Editing with photoshop try to give the sky more detail. I wanted to try and see the clouds in the image so I moved the white bar around to see If it made any difference. 

Vision Board

Vision Board

This semester I want to work close with photography and trying to further my skills in photography. 

I aim to focus on photography in the future as well. I also want to attend more shows in the near future and look a new and upcoming artist. 

I think I want to take images of family, culture and sceneries I'm still trying to decide which one but I'm looking more towards culture and identity. 

I did a quick collage on face to show what I want to do in this semester.