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Papua New Guinea Scarification
https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/body-art/papua-new-guinea-scarification/

In Papua New Guinea, scarification is usually related to initiation. In the middle Sepik region, it is believed that migrating ancestral crocodiles established human populations.

Aboriginal Scarification
https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/body-art/aboriginal-scarification/

In Australia, scarring was practised widely, but is now restricted almost entirely to parts of Arnhem Land. Scarring is like a language inscribed on the body, where each deliberately placed scar tells a story of pain, endurance, identity, status, beauty, courage, sorrow or grief.

Mt Hagen - Papua New Guinea Festival
https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/body-art/mt-hagen-papua-new-guinea-festival/

In the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, self-decoration is associated with festivals and ceremonies where people reinforce their identity as members of a group or clan. One of the most important occasions for ceremonial display is the Mount Hagen Festival.

The Meaning of Ta Tau - Samoan Tattoing
https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/body-art/the-meaning-of-ta-tau-samoan-tattoing/

The word tatau (tattoo) in Samoan means appropriate, balanced and fitting.

Headshaping
https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/body-art/headshaping/

Headshaping or binding was practised by a number of cultures and usually involved binding the forehead area of babies for a number of months till the desired shape was attained.

Footbinding
https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/body-art/footbinding/

Chinese folklore attributes the origins of footbinding to a fox who tried to conceal its paws while assuming the human guise of the Shang Empress. Another version suggests that the Empress had a club foot and insisted that all women bind their feet so that hers became the model for beauty.

Corsetry - Shaping the waist
https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/body-art/corsetry-shaping-the-waist/

The shaping of the waist, through belting, corseting, girdling or hiding its natural curve, has long held universal interest. What is considered an acceptable shape for the torso is intimately tied up with cultural aesthetics, discipline and social status.

The Meaning of Ta Moko - Maori Tattooing
https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/body-art/the-meaning-of-ta-moko-maori-tattooing/

Ta Moko was like a history of a person's achievements and represented their status in their tribe.

Henna
https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/body-art/henna/

Henna is a dye made from a flowering plant, Lawsonia inermis, to dye skin, hair and fingernails. It has been used for thousands of years across many cultures as an important part of ceremonys and rituals.

Tattooing - Earliest examples
https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/body-art/tattooing-earliest-examples/

Tattooed markings on skin and incised markings in clay provide some of the earliest evidence that humans have long practised a wide range of body art.