King 'Afa

Art came to me naturally since childhood growing up in Tonga (South Pacific), with my grandparents where I learned our culture & history of the Tonga Empire & Polynesia. I was exposed to our traditional arts & crafts at young age from old people. My life in Tonga & Fiji(Melanesia) (where tattoo in Samoa originated) was rich in Pasifika history & culture. I moved to Malaysia for engineering, dropped-out of school & built a jail house tattoo machine, and started tattoo right away without prior experience. I lived in the Northern Marianas & learned of art of Micronesia and culture. I moved here to Los Angeles California in 2003. Polynesian tattoo was rare in US, and a handful of Polynesians practiced tattoo in the garages. They designed just for Polynesians. I designed freestyle for everyone & it was controversial. I can tattoo ALL Polynesian styles; Hawaiian, Maori, Tonga, Samoa,Tahiti, Fiji, Cook Is, Marquesas, Wallis & Futuna, Niue, Rotuma, Tokelau, Rarotonga. Enjoy!