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Overview
This is a ipu (cup) made from a coconut shell. It sits on a circular stand cut from a coconut shell.
Significance
In 1997, Jean T. Chapman-Mason had this cup made for her while visiting the island of Atiu in the Southern Cook Islands. This was so she wouldn’t have to drink from a communal cup due to her concerns about catching a disease called Meningococcal B that is transmitted by sharing respiratory and throat secretions (saliva or spit). The cup is significant for highlighting how indigenous practices have been influenced by peoples' increasing awareness of how some diseases are transmitted in communal settings. Just over a decade later, this knowledge was aprticularly relevant during the Covid19 pandemic that swept the world.
Acquisition history
This cup was offered as a gift to Te Papa in 2017 by curator and poet Jean T. Chapman-Mason (Cook Islands/English).