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Tapa Cloth (Siapo)

Tapa Cloth (Siapo)

0:00 / 1:37
Tapegaina o le U'a 7:39

Tapegaina o le U'a

Produced by Reggie Meredith Fitiao/Su'a Uilisone Fitiao, and directed by Vincent Tofilau, for the University of Glasgow. © Reggie Meredith Fitiao/Su'a Uilisone Fitiao. In Tapegaina o le U'a, 4th generation siapo maker Reggie Meredith Fitiao shows the steps involved in processing the u'a (paper mulberry/ Broussonetia papryifera) when making tapa. Made exclusively for the University of Glasgow's AHRC-funded project 'A Living Tradition: Expanding Engagement with Pacific Barkcloth', this is one of a series of 4 videos on Samoan siapo, its production, colourants/dyes, and its ongoing significance.

Unidentified Samoan Artists
Date:
1930s-1950
Medium:
Bark, pigments
Size:
Width: 41 5/16″
Height: 69 1/8″
The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland BMA 1950.1991.38

Additional Audio

Siapo Makers in the Pacific Today

Transcript

Reggie Meredith Fiitao: We have different islands that do tapa still today, and you’ll notice I changed the word from siapo, which is our word, to tapa which is a universal word of bark cloth production, or making. The wider diaspora of siapomaking, there’s some in Tonga, in Fiji, in Hawaii, Tahiti, but here on our island, there’s very few. One of them is Su’a Ulisone Fitiao, my husband, and myself. We have a studio gallery that invites people in to come and share and learn more about siapo making.

Now, if you go to the other islands in Samoa, there’ll be a lot more siapo makers there. There are many that I do know. I’m always so grateful to run into them because we have this common thread, this bond. So we talk shop, of course. Thirty-three years later, I’m still here serving in the arts, still working with siapo. And it’s profound because I just felt like it was my calling to stay the course and really work with the local people, with my people.