Artwork information

This group portrait shows Samoan tufuga tatatau (tattoo expert) Su'a Sulu'ape Paulo II at home with his wife Epifania and their child Va'a in Māngere in 1978. Mark Adams went on to photograph Sulu'ape at work for the next 20 years. Adams recalls his first meeting with Sulu'ape:

"We just bowled into Paul's place [with his brother-in-law Pio Taofinu'u and painter Tony Fomison] in Chalfont Crescent in Māngere. They were at church, so we waited around in Paul's lounge. And they all came back from church – Epi's mum and dad were staying – to discover Tony and me were sitting there rather nervously. It just sort of went from there. I showed Paul the photos [of Mr Salati], and we just started talking. I asked him, 'Can I photograph your practice, can I come with you?' and he said 'yeah'. He just took us at face value, which is really what we wanted, I suppose. Then we started going out with Paul."

- Mark Adams: A Survey | He Kohinga Whakaahua, 2025