Sua Sulu'ape Paulo II

Su'a Sulu'ape Paulo II (1949 or 1950 – 25 November 1999)[1] was a tufuga ta tatau (master tattooist) born in Matafa'a near Lefaga,[2] Samoa but based in New Zealand since the 1970s.

In Samoan mythology the origin of the tatau is told in a legend about two sisters, Tilafaiga and Taema who brought the tools and knowledge of tattooing to Samoa.

Paulo was axed to death by his wife, Epifania Sulu'ape, after she learned that he planned to leave her for his Swedish lover, Heidi Hay.

[7] In 1985, Paulo's brother Su'a Sulu'ape Alaiva'a Petelo visited a tattoo convention in Rome at the invitation of American tattooist Don Ed Hardy.

He did residencies at the Tattoo Museum in Amsterdam at the invitation of tattooist Henk Schiffmacher and received international guests and customers at his home in Auckland.

[9] In November, 1999, Paulo's wife Epifania Sulu'ape clubbed him to death with the blunt edge of an axe after he told her that he planned to leave her for a Swedish lover, Heidi Hay.

Su'a Sulu'ape Paulo II