Tavana Salmon

Born on 13 January 1920 in Papeete, Salmon had a Tahitian mother and American father. He moved to Hawaii at the age of three and attended school there and performed shows in Waikiki for 17 years. He also appeared in a film, The Bounty, which was about the mutiny on the Bounty. In 1982, he returned to Polynesia to begin his tattoo practice.^[3] That year, over 100 people were tattooed, with 150 the following year.^[4] At the start of the revival, there were very few people on Tahiti who had the traditional tattoos.^[5] He personally tattooed ten people a day for ten years straight.^[6] He made appearances in the documentary films Tatau, le renouveau du tatouage (2007)^[7] and Tatau, la culture d'un art (2015).^[8][9]

Salmon died on 24 September 2024, at the age of 104.^[10]