The power of moko kauae is helping one Ngāi Tahu whānau to heal from the wounds of their past and growing up Māori in Ōtautahi.
Ngāi Tahu uri Jeni-Leigh Walker remembers how hard it was being Māori in her hometown.
"Getting to school every day was a mission and a little scary because you'd have to go through the city - and there was always white power and I hated that."
Her aunty Herena Stone remembers when she was a little girl being told by her friend's mother she wasn't allowed in their home.
"She said, 'She's got to go home - we don't like Māoris,' and that was heartbreaking," Stone said.
"So that's kind of just one example of the pain, I guess, of being the other."
However, last month, three generations of the whānau came together to receive their moko kauae at their first whānau mokopapa at Rāpaki Marae near Lyttelton.
Moko kauae is chin tattoos worn by wāhine Māori, and the whānau wanted to reclaim the legacy of their tīpuna wāhine.
Walker received her moko kauae alongside her aunties Herena Stone, Mate Stone and Rita Stone-Pene, as well as Walker's 21-year-old daughter Kura Turuwhenua.
For Walker and her daughter, it was a special day they never thought they'd get to share.
Last year, Walker underwent treatment for breast cancer and Turuwhenua said her whānau didn't even know if her mum would make it to her 21st birthday.
"So it is incredible. I'm so lucky and honoured to be able to get my moko kauae alongside my māmā."
Turuwhenua knows the pain her mum and her aunties experienced growing up living with racism and her mum did everything to ensure Turuwhenua was proud of her whakapapa.
"Even with all that she did to separate me from that, I still have experienced racism and I've still experienced people looking down on me because I'm Māori or because I'm a wahine."
For Walker's whānau, moko kauae is a tradition that has been lost for generations. But being able to share this experience with her daughter is about expressing who they are as Māori.
"I take every moment I have and I want to express who I really am in it and doing this with my daughter. I want to show her how important it is to me."
Their moko kauae was carried out by Ngāi Tahu tā moko artist Christine Harvey.
Each whānau member's kauae is completed in just a few hours, but a legacy one lost for generations is etched into the skin and reclaimed once more.
"To me it's courage," Turuwhenua said.
"But it was also an example of the extreme love they have for themselves, for their people, for where they've come from. And I think that it's important to know that all of this comes from a love for our culture and our identity."
Made with support from Te Māngai Pāho and the Public Interest Journalism Fund.
