Watch Pacific artists and makers talk about their tapa practice
Watch interviews with the artists and makers of tapa talking about how they started tapa making, where they are with the practice now, and sharing what their work means to them.
Watch: Sarah Vaki at the ‘Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina wānanga
Watch Marquesa Island tapa artist Sarah Vaki talk about her work as a tapa maker and artist.
"...ces savoirs du passé que nos tupuna nous ont laissés, c'est vraiment un vae tupuna, c'est-à-dire un cadeau qui nous ont fait, ce savoir. Qui aujourd'hui, on le travail pour faire vivre nos familles, et on va le transmettre. Donc le présent aujourd'hui, et tout ça, on va le transmettre à nos enfants, tout ce savoir, pour que ce savoir-là ne se perd pas.
***
“So these pieces that we made, and the knowledge that comes from the past that our tupuna left us, are really a vae tupuna. That means, a gift of knowledge from our tupuna. Today, we work to support our families, but also, we will transmit this knowledge. So in the present today, we are going to pass all this knowledge onto our children, so that it is not lost”
Sarah Vaki is from Fatu Iva in the Marquesas Islands, although she left the island at a young age. When she returned in 1966 she was fascinated by the sound of women beating tapa. Guided by her grandmother and the island's elder women, she learned the traditional art of making barkcloth from different tree species and the many ways tapa was used in everyday life, especially by women and families.
Today, she continues to make tapa using traditional tools passed down through her family, drawing on the knowledge she inherited from the ancestors before her, and passing it on to her own children and family.
Watch Sara Vaki talking about her Fatu Iva tapa practice and what it means to her at the 2023 ‘Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina in Tahiti.
‘Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina
In 2021, with help from the Te Papa Foundation, Te Papa acquired a rare book containing tapacloth samples, cut from larger pieces collected during Captain Cook’s Pacific voyages in 1768, 1772, and 1776, and compiled by Alexander Shaw in 1787. The samples represent tapa-making practices from various islands including Hawai‘i, Tahiti and Tonga.
In 2023, in Tahiti, ‘Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina gathered tapa makers of Tongan, Sāmoan, Niuean, Fijian, Hawaiian, Tahitian, Pitcairn-Norfolk Island, and Māori descent for five days to learn about and re-establish their living relationships to the cloth held within Alexander Shaw’s book.
Through a process of wānanga this group of makers created two tapa bundles, incorporating the ideas of past, present, and future – one of the bundles is with Te Papa and the other with Te Fare Iamanaha-Musée de Tahiti et des Îles.
The wānanga was convened by Te Papa with the support of L'ambassade de France en Nouvelle-Zélande et aux Îles Cook in Wellington in collaboration with the Musée de Tahiti et des Îles.
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See works by Sarah Vaki on Collections Online
Sarah Vaki is a tapa maker from Fatu Hiva in the Marquesa Islands.
‘Ahu: Ngā wairua o Hina – Tapa workshops in Tahiti
After acquiring a book of tapa samplers collected by Alexander Shaw that represents tapa-making practices from various islands in the Pacific, tapa makers, Te Papa curators, and our Senior Librarian, gathered together in Tahiti for a wānanga (workshop) to explore and respond to the samplers in the book.
