The young generation beating new life into tapa cloth

Doron Semu, 2023. Collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Commissioned 2023. Installation view, ’Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina, Vaiei Tupuna, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery. Photo: Ted Whitaker

Ngatu, siapo, aute, masi, tapa… just some of the names from across the Pacific for barkcloth which reflect the rich variety of bark used and working processes. . 

Tapa is having a moment in the art gallery - both as an extraordinarily vital traditional media in use across the Pacific and also as a discipline being re-energised by a new generation of makers in Aotearoa New Zealand. Artists are carrying forward distinct island cultural traditions, and speaking to their own sense of place in the world. 

Many are on show in Vaiei Tupuna, an exhibition of contemporary tapa from a dozen artists from across Moana Nui (the Pacific) at Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery in Pōneke Wellington. Here there are many commissioned responses to taonga from the collections of Te Herenga Waka Victoria University and the national museum Te Papa Tongarewa.   

Doron Semu Photo: Kezia Hibiscus

Three contemporary tapa artists join Mark Amery of Culture 101 to exchange their inspiration and approach.

Doron Semu references a once-common style of Sāmoan siapo painting using freehand patterns and techniques.

Based in Māngere, Semu’s work connects him back to his villages of Samoa and through workshops they provide a safe space for fellow young LGBGT+ Pasifika youth. 

Siapo involves peeling the outer bark of the u’a or paper mulberry tree and then pounding the wood into a thin fabric, which is then layered and pasted into cloth. 

‘Uhila Moe Langi Nai, Hala Kafa (detail), 2024, ink on pepa koka’anga. Installation view, Vaiei Tupuna, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery Photo: Ted Whitaker

‘Uhila Moe Langi Nai Photo: Emily Parr

‘Uhila Moe Langi Nai has roots in both Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and Pelehake Tonga. ‘Hala Kafa’ is a sizable new commission in response to a large ngatu tāhina in the university’s collection. That collection work is a launima or tapa of ceremonial scale that comprises 50 panels.Nai saw this launima at Adam Art Gallery in 2023 and recognised the kupesi patterns.

Tongan ngatu is made from the inner bark of the hiapo paper mulberry plant, which is then beaten and widened into sheets. Nai’s response are six vertical drops which use a motif - the kupesi manuiua - inherited from her grandmother’s collection.  

Nikau Hindin (Ngāti Tūpoto, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) is reviving the Māori art of barkcloth making known as  aute, a practice that came with Māori carrying the aute plant to Aotearoa.

The practice had died out over time because of poor growing conditions. 

Nikau Hindin Photo: Seb Charles

Hindin’s practice spans the entire process from growing and harvesting to creating a fine white cloth.

Her work has often been inspired by Māori astronomy and concepts of time and space, and recent works have included manu aute - kites used in storytelling. 

The manu aute at the Adam Art Gallery exhibition is one of 80 kites created for an exhibition commissioned by Haus der Kulteren der Welt in Berlin, and Hindin has also had major showings at this year’s Sydney Biennale and last year’s Bienal de Sāo Paulo.   

Nikau Hindin, 2023. Collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Commissioned 2023. Installation view, ’Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina, Vaiei Tupuna, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery Photo: Ted Whitaker

Doron Semu and Nikau Hindin were two of 11 tapa artists who travelled to Tahiti in 2023 for a wānanga convened by Te Papa in association with Te Fare Iamanaha Musee de Tahiti et des Iles. 

Alexander Shaw, A catalogue of the different specimens of cloth collected in the three voyages of Captain Cook, to the southern hemisphere, 1787, leaves of cloth samples. Collection of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa National Library of New Zealand. Installation view, ’Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina, Vaiei Tupuna Photo: Ted Whitaker

There they were asked to respond to a 1787 ‘sampler’ collated by bookseller Alexander Shaw of small pieces of tapa collected on Captain Cook’s Pacific voyages. This sampler is a recent addition to the Te Papa collection and it is also being shown in the Adam Art Gallery exhibition, demonstrating the diversity of tapa-making going back centuries.

Tapa beaters in ’Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina, Collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery Photo: Ted Whitaker

Vaiei Tupuna continues at the Adam Art Gallery until 15 December.