Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Wedding Tapa, 19th century, from the collection of Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Tapa cloth (or simply tapa) is a barkcloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, but as far afield as Niue, Cook Islands, Futuna, Solomon Islands, Java, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Hawaii (where it is called kapa).
Tapa cloth made using a variety of plants was collected by Captain James Cook on all three of his voyages through the Pacific. The locations represented in these published collections are mainly Tahiti, Mo'orea, Raiatea, Bora Bora, Huahine, New Zealand, Easter Island, the Marquesas Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Hawaii and an example from Jamaica. [1]
Sulieti Fieme'a Burrows MNZM (born 1951) is an artist and expert in the creation of tapa cloth.Born in Tonga, Burrows moved to New Zealand in the 1970s, bringing her knowledge of ngatu, the Tongan form of tapa, and other traditional Tongan crafts.
Koloa, which translates as "value", is a term to describe textiles made by Tongan women.These take many forms, including ngatu, widely known in the Pacific as tapa cloth, which is made from bark and inscribed with intricate patterns and symbols; ta’ovala, which are mats woven from strips of pandanus leaves; and kafa, which is braided coconut fibre or, sometimes, human hair.
His garment is an ʻie tōga. The other two men wear tapa cloth with patterned designs. ʻIe tōga are never used as an actual floor mat in the western sense, functioning only as an item of cultural value. They are considered the most precious item in ceremony and gift exchanges, important in faʻa-Sāmoa. They represent most of the traditional ...
Tapa cloth made by Mauatua. Mauatua, also Maimiti or Isabella Christian, also known as Mainmast, [1] (c. 1764 – 19 September 1841) was a Tahitian tapa maker, who settled on Pitcairn Island with the Bounty mutineers. She married both Fletcher Christian and Ned Young, and had children with both men.
In English, such garments are generically called sarong, but that word is actually Malay, whereas lavalava is Samoan, being short for ʻie lavalava (cloth that wraps around). Another common name for the Polynesian variety is pāreu (usually spelled pareo), which is the Tahitian name. [12] In Tonga, the garment is called tupenu.
The designs are stunning. These beautiful and intricate works are made by women. They have great intrinsic value and become family heirlooms. They are often given as gifts of love and friendship. They supplanted the traditional giving of tapa cloth on ceremonial occasions such as weddings, funerals and hair-cutting. Tīvaevae / tivaivai is a ...