Aroha nui

Design Story

We once prepared a mixed Polynesian half sleeve tattoo for Alberto, and converted it now into a full sleeve tattoo with this additional part that extends the existing one

To improve the integration some existing elements like the shark teeth, the big koru, and the ahuahu o Mataora have been extended into the new part, while the hammerhead shark motif was replicated as a visual reference and to remark that its meaning is still important in this new part.

From there we added symbols representing a fighter (spearheads facing the path of Kamehameha) on the outer part of the arm, and fa'atigipusa and thorns on the inside to symbolize pain and adversities.
The lizard is a protector symbol (like the two tiki), and the koru with a star symbolizes his daughter who was his fixed point through this, promoting a new start (the bigger koru).
The tail of the lizard shapes a double spiral to represent a union that supported him in this voyage (the row of birds).

The path to knowledge leads from this voyage to reach peace and freedom (the sun around the manta ray and palm leaves).
This is his new direction (the compass within the manta), which sees flax leaves (family union) and the family members (the three koru) being central.

The colored image below helps identifying the individual elements in the integration: