As a former resident of Fiji, an artist,
and former Art Director for The University of the
South Pacific, I found I was often in a position
to seek out the traditional arts and crafts that
escaped the short-term visitor. But that is because
I had time. Time to look at the tapacloth, to feel
it, to sense its presence.
I began as an outsider, bringing with
me all the baggage of Western thought, prejudice,
and perceptions. This beginning cannot be changed
but it can be overcome. And, to my Fijian and Tongan
colleagues, I have offered my humblest apologies
if my descriptions of use, history, and indigenous
perceptions may seem overly simplified or inaccurate.
It is for the uninitiated eyes of the Westerner to
whom these descriptions are offered in the hopes
that they, too, may come to appreciate the essence
of this traditional art form.
And, although my understanding and
attributions regarding the aesthetic form of pattern
and creation of tapa cloth may seem far removed from
the conscious thought of the indigenous cultures
where they exist, subconsciously, or even unconsciously,
the meanings are there deep in form for any to see
should they attempt to release themselves from its
purely material presence.
As I go through my daily travels here
and there across Fiji, the South Pacific, and the
USA, the patterns and interwoven textures of the
tapa become clearer to me. I see them in the light
flickering through the fan of the palm leaves,
in the ripples on the water, and the layers of misty
mountains of the islandıs interior as I sit watching
the sun going down on another day. The tapa cloth,
the real tapa is one that holds the patterns of
life, showing the heart the path that leads back
to the
dawn of time where the patterns of the ancients
began.
1 Clunie, Fergus, Yalo i Viti,
Shades of Viti: A Fiji Museum Catalogue, Fiji Museum,
Suva,
1986, p 126-127
2 Gravelle, Kim, Fiji's
Times: A History of Fiji, The Fiji Times Ltd,
Suva, 1992, p
20-24
3 Ambesi, Alberto Cesare,
Oceanic Art, Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd, 1970,
p 154
4
Ibid.
