For the 12th year, Tisa’s Tattoo Festival will bring together traditional and contemporary artists in a single venue to perform their art.
Founder Tisa Faamuli says her aim with the first event was to bring tattoo artists together and give them a venue to exhibit their skills and promote themselves and more importantly pass on their knowledge to the younger generation.
She’s proud that many of the original artists she worked with have gone on to bigger and greener pastures.
And the tattoo festival itself has grown attracting patrons from Europe, the Americas, Australasia and the Pacific.
This year with the help of the Amerika Samoa Humanities Council, a forum on the tatau will be held at the American Samoa Community College this afternoon, where scholars, tattoo artists, those with the laei and Tisa herself will discuss the many facets of this ancient art of Samoa.
The festival founder is pleased that with more understanding and appreciation for the tatau and tattoo artists, they are now in demand which means they are getting just compensation for their skills.
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