Tapa

by Michael Weston

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.
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.

TapaMaking BeatingMulberry

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.

Market
Traditionally tapa has 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.

Langanga48k 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 Launima is usually
marked in 450mm rows and numbered one to 52 along the edges.
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.

View more Tapa and descriptions of various designs

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. 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 tapa has 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 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 Launima is usually marked in 450mm rows and numbered one to 52 along the edges. 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. View more Tapa and descriptions of various designs