Tapa: Pacific Histories in Cloth
The story of tapa across the Pacific – art, dress, culture and curation.
Tapa: Pacific Histories in Cloth - Art, Making, and Community
Join us for a day of making, performance and community activations around tapa, and the bark cloth traditions of the Pacific to celebrate Tapa: Pacific Histories in Cloth, the new pukapuka by Dr Nina Tonga, Dr Rachel Yates Pahulu and Dr Sean Mallon, published by Te Papa Press.
When | Āhea
Sat 28 Nov 2026, 10am to 3pm
Where | Ki hea
Rongomaraeroa, the marae, Level 4
Cost | Te utu
Free with museum entry
Accessibility
Wheelchair Access
Seating available
Over generations, people throughout the Pacific have crafted beautiful and practical tapa cloth from the inner bark of various tropical trees. This cloth is known by many names across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa – aute in Aotearoa, siapo in Sāmoa, ngatu in Tonga, masi in Fiji, hiapo in Niue, ‘ahu in Tahiti, kapa in Hawai‘i, and many others.
Join us to celebrate Pacific heritage, craft, and Indigenous practice, with renowned tapa makers, knowledge holders, and practitioners for a day of creative making, talanoa, and rich cultural connection.
Drawing on community voices, makers, and artists revitalising the practice across Aotearoa and Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, we present an engaging programme honouring the histories, legacies, and living traditions of tapa across the Pacific.
Programme to come
Tapa: Pacific Histories in Cloth is the most significant contribution of knowledge about tapa in a generation, offering new views on its practices, meanings and histories across art, dress, culture and curation. This multi authored book draws upon the vast collections of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, illustrating over two hundred tapa from 18 Pacific island nations, from Taiwan to Hawai‘i, to explore its lineages.
Find out more about Tapa: Pacific Histories in Cloth.
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