“A mockery of my tipuna”: Traditional tattoo camera filter sparks outcry
<p dir="ltr">The emergence of social media filters that allow users to project traditional Māori tattoos onto their faces has caused controversy, with concerns raised about the protection of Māori identity and intellectual property.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The filters, given names like “Māori Mask” and “Māori Face Tattoo” and projecting mataora, moko kauae, tatua and other traditional tattoos, have appeared on social media platforms such as Snapchat, using open-source Lookery software to enable real-time modification of people’s faces in photos.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">Anyone can create filters, which are shared openly across the platform, with Instagram offering a similar feature.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/maori-tattoos1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Filters available on Snapchat that allow users to project traditional Māori tattoos onto their faces have sparked controversy. While two filters (left, centre) have been removed, one (right) is still available Images: RNZ, Author</em></p>
<p dir="ltr">While some see these filters as helping make Māori culture more accessible and revitalise mātauranga Māori (traditional Māori knowledge), others say it is damaging - particularly if they’re created from a non-Māori perspective.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"When people wear a fake Prada or Gucci bag, people are quick to call it out. However, when tauiwi (non-Māori people) create Māori art for profit, everyone thinks it's great,” Māori activist Karu Martin said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"There are people who need to take responsibility when they are using Māori culture in an international space or platform to understand that they have consequences and ramifications."</p>
<p dir="ltr">In Māori cultures, moko and tatua are unique expressions of a person’s whakapapa (genealogy) and identity, with traditional Māori tattoo artist Julie Paama Pengally adding that the tattoos represent more than what the creators of these filters could fathom.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Those elements are strongly connected to our whakapapa, our atua (ancestors), and our being,” Paama Pengally told the <em><a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018857427/growing-anger-over-use-of-moko-mataora-in-image-filters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RNZ</a></em>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"As soon as you take something from a culture without permission and you misrepresent it, and you displace that culture from doing what they want to do with those things themselves, then you're appropriating.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"That's a mockery of my tīpuna that you're wearing on your face, just so you can have your two seconds of fun.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"For me, it's a long-lasting reminder that if I were to have that on my face, people would look at me sideways."</p>
<p dir="ltr">But social media platforms are the only culprits when it comes to the commercialisation and appropriation of moko, with the sequel to Avatar and video games Borderlands 2077 and Grand Theft Auto drawing criticism for depictions of moko.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Tūranga Morgan-Edmonds, a Māori musician for the metal band Alien Weaponry who got his mataora last year, said he is weary of the commercialisation of moko.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"It's being made by some stranger on the other side of the world to be provided to the masses that don't belong to our culture,” he said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"These ones in the games are blatant rip-offs - they follow the same patterns and all of that.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Places that take inspiration have taken the concepts, and then designed something completely different."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Since <em>RNZ</em> approached Snapchat for a comment, the platform has removed the filters.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Meta, the company that owns Instagram and Facebook, didn’t respond to questions.</p>
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<p dir="ltr"><em>Image: RNZ</em></p>
