I painted this piece earlier this year as a part of my Pe'a(Bat) Series. The following extract explains a perspective of the value of this type of design for the Samoan people.
The common name for tatau is pe'a, flying fox, my favourite winged creature, combination of rat and furred bird the world/reality form and up-side-down position (and usually at night using radar!). There are many proverbs, myths, legends, and stories about the pe'a and its role in society and the universe. For some Aiga and itumalo the pe'a was their war atua.
The tatau is called a pe'a because of its charcoal dark colour, the colour of the flying fox. It is also a reflexion of the couragous, cheeky nature of the flying fox. Recently, John Pule tole me that the tatau looks like a flying fox with its wings wrapped around its body as it hangs up-side-down, its head withdrawn. However, I prefer my observation: If you look at the tatau frontally, the male genitals, even with a penis sheath, look like the pe'a's head, and the tatau spreading out over the thighs and up towards the navel and outwards looks like its wings outstretched. The expression is 'Faalele lau pe'a!' Let your flying fox fly! Show how beautiful and courageous you've been in enduring the pain of the tatau, parade it for all to see. The sexual connotations are also very obvious.
Albert Wendt
Extract from Tatauing the Post-Colonial Body
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