Ingraining the old art of tattoo
By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Staff Writer
Keone Nunes, who works at the Board of Health, knows a lot about what the well-dressed islander wore in ancient times. He's the only traditional tattoo artist in Our Honolulu.
While everybody else uses electric machines, Nunes filed his needles from a boar's tusk.
He said the old Hawaiians made theirs from albatross bones. But the albatross is protected now.
His hitting stick was cut from an uhiuhi tree.
Nunes keeps busy because tattoos are in fashion among young Hawaiians as well as haoles. But going to Nunes for a tattoo is different than going to a tattoo parlor.
Tattoo machines hurt. But "when I use these tools, a common experience is for people to fall asleep," he said.
Also, you don't order a bald eagle along your left biceps from Nunes.
What you do is talk story with him during the first session. When you come back, Nunes may show you designs appropriate for you. Once you have decided on one, he'll tell you what it means — but not before. If he told you the meaning before you pick, you might choose a different one that wouldn't be "you."
That's what makes traditional Hawaiian tattooing so fascinating.
"If you look at all the traditional tattoo designs, maybe
1 percent of them were worn for aesthetic reasons," Nunes explained. "I was fortunate in the late '70s and early '80s to speak with many kupuna (elders). They explained the names of the designs and what they mean.
"In old Hawai'i, tattooing empowered a person. All the kupuna agree on that.
"Some tattoos are clan- and family-associated. A tattoo might express your personal quality, or your profession — healer, craftsman, kumu hula. Some tattoos are associated with guardian spirits, worn for protection both physical and spiritual.... The meanings of the designs were different in other areas."
Nunes said one of the kupuna, Auntie Muriel Lupenui, gave him a design appropriate for him. "In the late '80s I had it done by a tattoo artist I was comfortable with, Kandy Everette."
Everette encouraged him to learn tattooing so he did, learning how to use a machine, then got his license and became a tattoo artist.
He said he had always wanted to learn traditional tattooing, but none of the kupuna knew the technique nor had seen it done. Traditional tattooing has survived only in Samoa, Nunes explained.
It was a Samoan master, Paulo Suluape, from whom Nunes learned the ancient technique. Nunes was the first non-Samoan to be taught.
"Since that time, so far as I know, I'm the only person in Hawai'i giving tattoos with traditional tools. Even in Tahiti and New Zealand (where tattooing is very popular), no one uses traditional tools."
If you want to learn more, Nunes is lecturing in the University of Hawai'i Art Auditorium at 3 p.m. Tuesday. He will give a demonstration at 3 p.m. Thursday in the Center for Hawaiian Studies.
