See work by Dr Pauline Reynolds on Collections Online
Dr Pauline Reynolds is of Norfolk Island, Pitcairn, and Tahitian descent.
Watch: Pauline Reynolds at the ‘Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina wānanga
Watch Norfolk Island tapaartist Pauline Reynolds talk about her work as a researcher and tapa maker.
“My present piece is a cut tiputa... and I've cut it because that's sort of a response to the book and how I feel about the fragmentation of those pieces that exist in the sampler. I used to be angry. Maybe not angry, but I used to feel sad about the samplers. But through this project, I've actually learnt, I've come to a place of understanding that we can't change the past and I'm so glad that the samplers exist. ”
Pauline Reynolds, a Norfolk Island historian, artist, and one of the art directors for the ‘Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina project, explores the legacy of the Tahitian and Huahine women from whom Norfolk Islanders descend.
Inspired by historic tapa held in museums, including the Shaw book at Te Papa, she uses tapa-making to connect with past makers and reflect on cultural fragmentation, recovery, and continuity. Representing the past, present, and future, her works show how ancestral knowledge can be rediscovered, reassembled, and carried forward.
Watch Pauline Reynolds talking about her Norfolk Island tapa practice and what it means to her at the 2023 ‘Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina talanoa in Tahiti.
‘Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina
In 2021, with help from the Te Papa Foundation, Te Papa acquired a rare book containing tapacloth samples, cut from larger pieces collected during Captain Cook’s Pacific voyages in 1768, 1772, and 1776, and compiled by Alexander Shaw in 1787. The samples represent tapa-making practices from various islands including Hawai‘i, Tahiti and Tonga.
In 2023, in Tahiti, ‘Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina gathered tapa makers of Tongan, Sāmoan, Niuean, Fijian, Hawaiian, Tahitian, Pitcairn-Norfolk Island, and Māori descent for five days to learn about and re-establish their living relationships to the cloth held within Alexander Shaw’s book.
Through a process of wānanga this group of makers created two tapa bundles, incorporating the ideas of past, present, and future – one of the bundles is with Te Papa and the other with Te Fare Iamanaha-Musée de Tahiti et des Îles.
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‘Ahu: Ngā wairua o Hina – Tapa workshops in Tahiti
After acquiring a book of tapa samplers collected by Alexander Shaw that represents tapa-making practices from various islands in the Pacific, tapa makers, Te Papa curators, and our Senior Librarian, gathered together in Tahiti for a wānanga (workshop) to explore and respond to the samplers in the book.
Browse tapa from Norfolk Island and Pitcairn Island on Collections Online
View tapa created by makers from Pitcairn and Norfolk Islands in Te Papa’s collections.
