About Māori Tā Moko Facial (1769)
Tā moko is the chiselled facial tattoo of Māori men and women — carved into the skin with the uhi chisel, leaving deeply incised grooves filled with soot pigment. This design system channels the 1769 contact-era aesthetic: high-contrast black-on-skin precision, fine-line curve geometry, and the gravity of anatomical engraving.
The palette draws from archival sketch paper, soot pigment, and warm umber skin tones. Typography pairs a literary serif with a sober sans-serif, evoking the draftsmanly seriousness of Parkinson's voyage sketches and Lindauer's oil portraits.
- Origin
- Aotearoa / New Zealand
- Era
- Tā moko documented from 1769 (Cook's first voyage); near-extinct by 1900; revival 1990s onward
- Key figures
- Sydney Parkinson · Gottfried Lindauer · Mark Kopua · Inia Te Wiata
- Movements
- pre-contact Māori adornment · colonial portrait painting · Māori renaissance moko revival
Māori Tā Moko Facial (1769) design spec
Colors
Typography
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