Patu tattoo culture

“Patu Mamatui is a young Polynesian tattoo artist who wins a maximum of international awards. Discovery of his life in his neighborhood of Tahiti.”

The first time Patu joined a tattoo shop was in 2004 with Tavae Norbert. Wanting to deepen his knowledge of Polynesian history and culture, which he did not know at all, he then joined the Tahiti Art Craft Center. At the Center Patu is lucky to have Philippe Aukara as a sculpture teacher. This new guide teaches him a lot about composition and patterns. The legends, the traditional songs, the design of the nasal flutes, the canoes, the instruments, the percussion. The language too. Today Patu has his own salon and makes a living from tattooing. He dances and fully lives what he loves to do. When you love what you do, you can only be smiling and feel good about yourself... For the young people who know him in his neighborhood and who see him evolve today, he is a very good example.

Directed by Jean-Philippe Joaquim, Jonathan Bougard