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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]
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.
The Tahitian pāreu are among the most colourful and bright of the Pacific. Originally flower patterns, the hibiscus flowers in particular, or traditional tapa patterns, were printed in bright colours on a cotton sheet of about 90 or 120 cm wide and 180 cm long. Nowadays they are also made in Tahiti itself and dye painting with varying colours ...
Highly detailed tapa cloth art is a specialty of Wallis and Futuna. [34] Uvea Museum Association is a private museum that holds a collection of objects that record the history of the Second World War in the territory. [35] It is located in Mata Utu shopping center and in 2009 was open by appointment. [36]
Economic activities include coconut and taro farming, fishing and selling of Fijian hand printed tapa. Vatulele is known for its legend of the red prawns and petroglyphs . The island has a chiefly title known as the Vunisa Levu and is regarded as one of the independent islands in Fiji.
A tapa showing the map of Futuna. Tapa is a popular art form which is made from the "base" of the bark of the mulberry and breadfruit trees. The pounded bark is painted with vegetable colours and with attractive designs.
Tongan tapa In pre-contact Tonga, women did not do the cooking (cooking in an earth oven was hard, hot work, the province of men) or work in the fields. They raised children, gathered shellfish on the reef, and made koloa , barkcloth and mats, which were a traditional form of wealth exchanged at marriages and other ceremonial occasions.