Tapa or wuwusi (bark cloth)
About This Item
Bark cloth, also known as tapa cloth, has been made for centuries across the Pacific, from Southeast Asia to Rapanui, or Easter Island, off of South America. Today, the practice of making tapa cloth remains a vital art form among many Pacific Islander communities. The islands that make up Oceania contain thousands of plant species, many of which can be found in art and material culture. Because the islands were never connected to the mainland, plants had to arrive across the ocean by air, carried by birds or via airborne seeds. In New Guinea, there are over 2,000 species of orchids and 2,000 species of ferns alone.
- Date
- 20th Century
- Geography
- Papua New Guinea
- Medium
- bark fiber
- pigment
- Context
- The Oceania collection at the Global Museum—the largest collection in the museum’s holdings—primarily consists of objects from the late 1970s and 1980s in the newly formed Independent State of Papua New Guinea. Among Papua New Guinean communities, objects serve to educate young people about their families and heritage, to celebrate cycles of life and death, to protect those who travel the waterways and forests, and to create a sense of identity and purpose within the community.
- Height
- 69.5 in
- Width
- 44.5 in
- Depth
- > 0.25 in
- Copyright
- Copyright status unknown. Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing, and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
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