Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Open every day 10am-6pm
(except Christmas Day)
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Watch New Zealand and Tongan ngatu (tapa) artist Tui Emma Gillies talk about her work as a ngatu maker and artist.
“I always put a contemporary spin on things. I think we are living in today’s world and I use the old ways because I feel it's so important to pull it out of a museum and be able to bring it into my practice. I think that's just so important because it's like we're taking our ancestors with us.”
Tui Emma Gillies (Tonga) is an artist and maker of ngatu, tongan bark cloth – ...
Watch Tui Emma Gillies talking about her Tongan ngatu practice and what it means to her at the 2023 ‘Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina in Tahiti.
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.
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.
