The tribes of Papua New Guinea don’t mess around when it comes to body ink. But here in Tufi, it’s a rite reserved solely for women. A rite of passage for adolescent girls, the painful custom is believed to be as old as the local creation myth. Like most rituals in Papua New Guinea, facial tattooing borrows from the mating rituals of a bird; the Raggiana bird of paradise in particular, which presents its vivid plumage upon reaching maturity. A bright tattoo—the tribal interpretation of brilliant feathers—adorns a young woman’s face when she comes of age between 14 and 18 years old. It goes without saying that the process of adorning one’s face with stripes and swirls is an act of beautification that is much more arduous than sliding a needle through one’s ear. When a young woman’s elders decide she’s ready for the rite, they deliver her to one of the tribe’s tattoo mavens; a older woman who is well versed in the elaborate custom of ink art creation. Her responsibilities are twofold: While preserving the generational custom and executing an array of designs on the delicate canvas, she must also care for the young woman in question during the painful procedure, which can take up to two months to complete.

Wantok Photography

Tufi Woman

Tufi Woman

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