Tyla Vaeau

Biography Vaeau was born in Wellington but grew up in the central Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn. Her father was born in the village of Elisefoe in the island of Upolu, Samoa, and her mother was born in Wellsford, New Zealand.

She attended Westmere Primary, Ponsonby Intermediate, and then Western Springs College from 1999 to 2003. Vaeau notes that these schools were diverse and multicultural when she attended them in the 1980s and 1990s.

Vaeau worked at the female and Indigenous- owned tattoo studio Karanga Ink on Karangahape Road but now works with her brother from her home in Grey Lynn. She is known widely for her ability to blend contemporary with traditional artistic practice. Her combination of understanding the historical and cultural relevance and significance of the Samoan malu (female leg tatau) and the pe'a (male leg tatau) has resulted in her ability to create her own contemporary designs. In order to expand her practice into malu, Vaeau has managed the training of a small circle of women. She is part of a community of people actively revitalising this practice. At present, there is a team of Samoan women tattooists undertaking this traditional practice of tatau, and Vaeau is the only female master tattooist, a title she acquired after years of being an apprentice under the master tattooist Sa Su'a family.