This exhibition of contemporary tapa from across Moana Nui brings together newly commissioned responses to taonga from the collections of Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection and The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, with key historic works. Realised in collaboration with Te Papa, Vaiei Tupuna asserts the enduring wairua (spirit) of tapa’s past, present and future practitioners.
This exhibition articulates a special moment in museum practice in Aotearoa. In late 2023, a delegation from Te Papatravelled to Tahiti with a recently acquired rare book, a 1787 tapa sampler collated by Alexander Shaw. Eleven tapa makers were invited to Tahiti to engage with the sampler and make works in response as part of a wananga titled ‘Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina (Tapa: The Spirit of Hina). These responses are on display for the very first time as part of Vaiei Tupuna.
Another commission premiering in Vaiei Tupuna is new work by 'Uhila Moe Langi Nai in response to a 24-metre long ngatu tāhina (Tongan Tapa), on display at Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery in 2023. Nai found in the ngatu a kupesi pattern inherited from her grandmother. A contemporary revisioning of the kupesi patterns used in the ngatu, Nai conceives of her new work, Hala Kafa, as an iteration of the original gift of the ngatu to the University Art Collection in 1999.
Hina, the atua of tapa making, is also present in Vaiei Tupuna in a collaborative work by Pauline Reynolds and Sue Pearson. Hina Sings… includes an immersive experience of poetry, song and moving image projected onto a screen of 'ahufafa tapa. The exhibition both opens and closes with the 1785 portrait of Poeatua, one of the first images of an Indigenous woman of Moana Nui to circulate in Europe. Poeatua’s presence here represents a commitment to rereading the past, restoring knowledge, honouring our tūpuna, and speaking their names.
Exhibition details
Vaiei Tupuna
Cora-Allan, Dalani Tanahy, Doron Semu, Hinatea Colombani, Liviana Qaranivalu, Nikau Hindin, Pauline Reynolds, Sarah Vaki, Sue Pearson, Sulieti Fieme’a Burros, Tui Emma Gillies, 'Uhila Moe Langi Nai.
Curated by Isaac Te Awa, Nalani Wilson-Hokowhitu, Rosalie Koko, Rebecca Rice, Sophie Thorn
05.10.24–15.12.24
Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery in collaboration with Te Papa
Opening hours
Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery
Tuesday–Sunday 11 am–5 pm
FREE ENTRY
Group visits are welcome. If your group is larger than five people and you would like a tour or introduction to the shows, contact the gallery administrator Ann Gale on ann.gale@vuw.ac.nz or 04-463 5229.
Address
Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington
Gate 3, Kelburn Parade
Wellington 6140