My Mana

My Mana

For myself, the Polynesian culture drew me into a new world.

The culture defines life as a spiritual embodiment of the two realms.

Seperating the two, heaven and earth as you will.

Our spirit is gateway to our world, our power, our growth, our spirit is who we are.. and our bodies are just a gift.

Hence how gender doesn’t play any role to our serving.

Our gift is serving us a purpose to grow as a human, but we aren’t human beings.. physically yes, but who we are is much more powerful.

I am... well...

I am marked with scars, the words, art, and a story.

I marked the words behind my ears, on the right side “wahine” and the left side “kāne“ meaning woman and man.

Identifying myself for who I am.

The tattoo represents the self acceptance of being transgender.

I have my neck, collarbone, hands, shins, and achilles tattooed.

From Hawaii to New Zealand to the Cook Islands.

From head to toe.

My acknowledgement to self acceptance had my eyes open and heart beating once the words inked my skin.

Under the word, a beautiful design parted on both sides keeping it balanced.

The collarbone designed beautifully sitting front on into your eyes... is myself.

The hands, with the unique lines and captivating halves within its two.

The legs - the dark ink that draws the eyes to undress the designs meaning.

The Polynesian art placement representation.

Head - spirituality, knowledge, wisdom and intuition.

Higher trunk generosity, sincerity, honour, joy and reconciliation.

Lower arms & hands - creativity, creation, making things

Legs & feet - moving forward, transformation and progress. They are also related to separation and choice.

My neck representing the self acceptance within my mind, and within myself.

My collbarone was the mirror to my beauty, as I stood front on accepting myself, I am within, centred between the two.

My hands, are my passion hands on... literally.

My hands are my tools, my passion.

My shins, the force of strength, as you feel.. it is the strongest bone in the leg.

My Achilles... the last piece to hit the ground, as I found my feet, I am close with my element, and comfortable within my skin.

I leave the artist with the art on my skin.

Once I leave I move forward.

As for the unique balance.

Left side is feminine.

Right side is masculine.

Every part tattooed on my left side - including the word wahine is feminine.

Every part tattooed on my right side - including the word kāne is masculine.

Each tattoo.. is also split into two, and that represents the balance.

From the neck down to the feet, each tattoo is meaning for who I am.

Balanced.

Masculine and feminine.

I’m fortune to be blessed with understanding both halves of myself.

As my art represents who I am.

The ink is my story, and the story doesn’t need to be told in a book when I am the story in front of you.

My scars are my past.

My memories are vague.

My ink is forever.

I ponder back to the moments I had chosen in those seconds to end my life.

Ponder back to the moments as I look at the scars.

Relationships I had left behind.. or did I just move forward, and nothing was really left...

Underneath the collarbone, is the word “Bella”

Meaning beautiful in Italian.

Underneath my right pectoral is the word “Bello” also meaning beautiful in Italian.

You say Bella to a woman, and Bello to a man.

As my bello is tattooed over the scar.. I am both yours, as man and woman.

I am balanced in my beautiful way.

I’m beautiful.

Like any artist, we will never understand it, because the meaning is within the Artist, they create the picture and we admire.

The beautiful thing is... the story.

“Mana” (in Polynesian) the power of the elemental forces of nature embodied in an object or person.

My Mana.

Pharrell