The National Tattoo Museum (NTM) of New Zealand is the vision of a Professional Wellington Tattooist - Steven Maddock from UndergroundArts - (A Tattoo Studio situated at the rear of the museum) Established as a Trust in the year 2000, the NTM is a first for the South Pacific Region. Our goal is to provide a forum to ensure the rich history of the 'Tattoo' or 'Ta Moko', is both shared and protected. This is a totally unique venture that has never been created before in the South Pacific, therefore the implications of such a venture are huge. Taking into civilization throughout the South Pacific and the world. The Museum is a basis for global unity for tattooed and non-tattooed people alike and we make every effort to ensure that every culture is treated with the same utmost respect. Our vision is to document and display individual stories as accurately and honestly as possible, while continuing to evolve with the Art Of Tattoo. The breadth of cultural and sociological history tattoo encompasses is huge, the art form dating back to C4,000 B.C. Including both traditional and contemporary, tattoo practices; Ta Moko - it's spiritual, political and symbolic dimensions, and lifestyle through tattoo, seafaring tattoo - travel visas of the 18th century throughout the Pacific, Asia and wider, and more recently, fashionable body adornment practices. Furthermore, Traditional Maori Tattoo practice is one of the icons by which this country is best known overseas, and ranks as one of the most sophisticated, highly developed tattoo traditions anywhere in the world. In the last few years, tattoo has shifted from being regarded as insignia of marginalised social groups to being accepted by far wider section of the population. The Museum had it's official launch on 23rd November, 2001. This was to coincide with an International Tattoo Convention that was being hosted in New Zealand, which also included a convention in Samoa and meant a large number of International Visitors coming to New Zealand specifically for this event. (We aim to host events like this on an annual basis in the future, here in Wellington.) The NTM also has it's own Art Gallery on site 'Aotearoa Artists Gallery', and hosts exhibitions on a bi-monthly basis of local, National and International artists.