Gambier Islands

The Gambier Islands are a Polynesian island group in the South Pacific, with Mangareva as its principal island. Their historical tattoos were so dense that some visitors first mistook them for clothing.

Men appeared to be wearing blue trousers, but the colour was worked into their skin. Geometric patterns covered the legs, while chest markings could connect someone with a family or with chiefly rank.

Some older accounts describe royal designs applied early in life and harsh punishment for people who copied them without the right to do so. In those stories, a tattoo did more than decorate: it made a person's standing visible.

Creating the patterns required skilled hands and many repeated taps. Drawings of bodies and tattooing tools preserve the detail of an art that could turn the entire figure into a bold design.