Reflections on Re/creating Missing Components of the ’Ahu Heva Tūpāpa’u for the Perth Museum (Scotland)

Authors

Keywords:

tapa, barkcloth, dyes, mourning ritual, Tahiti, replica, Captain James Cook

Abstract

This piece is an exploration of thought processes, logistical planning, research and creative practice involved in conceptualising and making the missing barkcloth components of an ’ahu heva tūpāpa’u (chief mourner’s regalia) that went on permanent exhibition for the opening of the new Perth Museum in Scotland in March 2024. The regalia is possibly one of around ten collected in Tahiti by Captain James Cook during his second Pacific voyage, with one of these ending up in Perth via the collections of Dr David Ramsay. During the voyage, or possibly during its life in Perth, the regalia became separated from some of its barkcloth components. This paper is a record of the process that went into making the replica pieces.

Author Biography

Pauline Reynolds, Macquarie University

Pauline Reynolds, adjunct fellow at Macquarie University, is a Norfolk Islander of Pitcairn-Hitiaurevareva-Tahitian and European descent. A Pacific scholar and tapa (barkcloth) maker, she is best known for collaborations with museums and curatorial teams and her replications of Tahitian and Pitcairn barkcloth clothing from the 1700s and 1800s. Recently she published a chapter in Tupaia, Captain Cook and the Voyage of the Endeavour (Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2023) and co-edited Postcolonial Literatures of Climate Change (Brill, 2022). She is currently co-writing a book about the Tahitian chief mourner’s regalia collected by Cook (British Museum Research Publications series) and writing a biography of Pitcairn writer Rosalind Amelia Young (Brill).

front cover Sept. 2024 issue

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Published

2024-10-19

Issue

Vol. 133 No. 3 (2024): Waka Kuaka | Journal of the Polynesian Society

Section

Curatorium

License

Copyright © 2024 by the Polynesian Society (Inc.)

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The Polynesian Society
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