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Tapa

 

Tapa,
and the people who make it

The manufacture of tapa cloth, made from the inner bark of certain trees, is one of the most intriguing products of the cultures of the Pacific islands. In several parts of Melanesia from New Guinea to Vanuatu, in Fiji, and on most of the high islands of Polynesia from Hawaii to Tahiti, the Marquesas, Tonga, Samoa, Niue, the Cook Islands, and New Zealand, making barkcloth is an ancient craft that has been practiced for thousands of years.

Textile-making has a long tradition in the Pacific Islands. While having utilitarian function, textiles have also been used by islanders to commemorate life's important events and ceremonies. Barkcloth, known in many regions of the Pacific as tapa, is a widely used fabric. Not woven like most textiles, tapa cloth is made from strips cut from the bark of the paper mulberry tree that are flattened with special mallets. Many strips can be sewn or glued together with a plant resin to create a large sheet of fabric. The thin paper-like material can be painted or printed with natural pigments, applied with brushes or bamboo stamps. In some areas of the Pacific, barkcloth is decorated by dipping leaves in red pigment and pressing them on the cloth. Geometric patterns, reminiscent of Polynesian tattooing, are also commonly found on tapa cloth.

Tapa cloth has been and continues to be used in many ways in the Pacific. It can take the form of a blanket, a room of a ceremonial mask, or loose clothing. It is tradition in the Islands forpeople to exchange textiles during special ceremonies. The work each piece represents and the good "mana" of the woman who created it testify to the significance of the gift and provide the recipient with good luck. Today it is still customary at weddings for the bride and groom to be given large quantities of finely woven mats and tapa cloth, which are often worn around their bodies in layers as a sign of community blessing. Other passages of life that often involve the ceremonial exchange of textiles are births and funerals. (The above information is from a Crizmac Textiles of the Pacific Islands newsletter for teachers.)

Pictures and text about the Maisin people are from a commercial site, The Fair Trade Zone that also describes other crafts.

 

Visiting from Papua New Guinea, Maisin leaders Reuben Sakai (l), Director of Maisin Tapa Enterprises, and John Wesley Vaso (r), Acting Chair of the Maisin Integrated Conservation and Development Association, described their community's efforts in public events sponsored by Fair Trade Zone in Berkeley and San Francisco in May, 1998.

Art That Saves The New Guinea Rainforest

The Maisin people have chosen to conserve their ancestral rainforest lands and culture by bringing their traditional pounded bark art, Tapa Cloth, to a global audience.

Because the information above is from a commercial source I wondered if I should trust it. In continueing my search I found a letter written by a Greenpeace International representative who visited the Maisin people. It supports in greater detail what you already read and I think you might really enjoy reading a first hand account!

To learn more about tapa cloth, here's a great resource:
Traditional Tapa Textiles of the Pacific
by Roger Neich and Mich Pendergrast, Thames and Hudson, 1997
Traditional Tapa Textiles of the Pacific presents a complete range of the ancient art of tapa, from cloth brought back by the first European voyages from the Pacific to contemporary examples. Origins, materials and production techniques are described, as well as tapa's cultural context and uses in weddings, funerals, clothing, dance and ornament in countries such as New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, and New Zealand. More than 100 color photos are included. Price: $24.95. To order contact your local bookstore or the publisher, Thames and Hudson,

 

Tapa by Michael Weston

Pictures are unavailable at this time so keep checking the link above.

THE MOST widespread and distinctive material art form of Polynesia has for many years occupied a special place as an inexpensive art alternative covering wallspace in studios and flats across the city of Auckland, New Zealand.T

Tapa is the commonly used name for a variety of traditional textiles produced in the Polynesian and Melanesian island groups and made usually from the inner bark of the Paper Mulberry and Breadfruit trees. The term, now widely accepted to describe Polynesian and Melanesian barkcloth, originated with European and American sailors in the early 19th century.

In Tonga and Samoa, "tapa" refers only to the undecorated barkcloth. In Tonga finished pieces are "Ngatu". In Samoa, "Siapo". In Fiji, "Masi".

Although each culture has their own distinctive visual style, tapa manufacture is fairly consistent throughout Polynesia. The inner bark of the Paper Mulberry tree is stripped, soaked and beaten with a wooden mallet on a flat topped wooden anvil (a tutua) to produce sheets of raw tapa measuring around 300mm by 3-4000mm. These pieces are then joined and decorated in ways specific to each area.

Traditionally tapahas been used in both functional and ceremonial ways.

Functional uses include clothing room dividers and bedding.
Ceremonial use of tapa includes dance costume, mat coverings, as ceremonial carpet, as gifts at funerals and weddings and formal occasions associated with the state or royalty, and as room dividers on important occasions such as funerals.
Contemporary use is limited almost entirely to the ceremonial situations and associated costume.

Of all the Polynesian groups The Kingdom of Tonga produces the greatest quantity of tapa, being geographically and climatically perfectly suited to the widespread cultivation of the Paper Mulberry.

Distinguishing features of Tongan tapa (or Ngatu as it is more correctly termed) are its size, method of decoration and the presence of the numbered white border.

A Langanga is usually marked in 450mm rows and numbered one to 52 along the edges.

A Tongan Ngatu is made as a large piece (Launima) measuring around 22 metres and as part of the ritual of its ceremonial use, the Ngatu gets cut into four or five Langanga pieces typically measuring around 2200 x 4000mm and distributed among the guests.

A tremendous variety of images and motifs are in common usage as decoration on Tongan Ngatu, a significant proportion of which remain undocumented. The motifs are applied to the tapa by rubbing the cloth with natural colouring over design tablets called Kupesi, which are layed out on a curved log (Papa). The process is analogous to performing a brass rubbing and results in the images being loosely transferred to the new cloth where they are subsequently over-painted with a variety of darker pigments. Since the women involved in the making of the tapa sit on either side of the log facing each other, frequently the designs and numbers will alternate in their vertical orientation.

 

 

 

 

 

This tapa from The Kava Boutique (!) is made from mulberry bark which, after being peeled in long strips from the tree is scraped away from the white inner fibres.

The strips of fibre are dried, soaked and pounded until they become wide and very flexible. A number of strips are then felted together to form a fine white cloth ready to be decorated with home made dyes.

The brown shade is made from the bark of trees and black from the soot of burnt candle nuts, red from clay. Tapa cloth plays an important part in religious rites and ceremonial gift giving in the Pacific Islands. Different Fijian Islands have their own distinctive Tapa designs and patterns.

 

The two tapa pictures above:
Courtesy of the Utah Arts Councils
Photo of woman beating tapa by Elaine Thatcher, 1990

Photo of materials by Hal Cannon, 1980

The Polynesian Gift to Utah is made possible by a
generous grant from the R. Harold Burton Foundation.

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