Tep Tok is a documentary feature film that focuses on the art and heritage of tattooing in the Central Province of Papua New Guinea. Tep Tok was made over the past 3 years as a fully self-funded project by Sunameke Productions. Exploring and to some degree reviving this heritage are four women of Papua New Guinean and Australian descent (Julia Mage'au Gray, Paia Ingram, Ranu James & Natalie Richards). The film follows their journey from Australia to Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Samoa, Tahiti, the Cook Islands, and back. A particular focus of the documentary is the changes in Papua New Guinean society as reflected through the stories of the protagonists as young mixed-race women adapting and (re)creating a culture to which they belong but from which they have also been apart.
Source : Northern Center For Contemporary Art