‘Ahu fara no Hina (Hina’s tapa cloth shawl)

'Ahu fara no Hina (Hina's tapa shawl) was made by Dr Pauline Reynolds (Norfolk Island – Pitcairn, Tahitian descent) as a part of the 'Ahu: Ngā wairua o Hina project.

Making for the future

One of a sister-set of 'ahu fara (the other is held in Te Fare Iamanaha-Musée de Tahiti et des Îles and is made from 'uru). This shawl honours the legend of Hina. Today, Hina watches all tapa makers from the moon, and occasionally drops branches of 'ōrā to the earth below. Long ago, Hina sailed through the cosmos to earth, and with her brother Ru, named the islands of te Moana-nui-a-Hiwa. Despite the beauty of the islands and the ocean, Hina longed to return to the moon. One night when the moon was full and dazzling, she paddled her small canoe out to the horizon, stood up, and let her 'ahu fara fall to the water. She stepped onto the moon and has lived there ever since. At night we can still see her 'ahu fara leaving a trail on the water. The yellow tapa represents the trail of moonlight, and the banyan circle represents the moon and the banyan trees that grow there.

"I imagined Hina taking the 'ahu fara off her shoulders and letting it go down onto the lagoon, the ‘ahu fara is then the moonlight and that's our way of always being able to find her."

Background

In 2021, with the Te Papa Foundation’s support, Te Papa acquired a rare book of tapa cloth samples, one of many assembled by Alexander Shaw in 1787. The samples were cut from larger pieces of tapa collected on Captain Cook’s voyages to the Pacific (1768, 1772, 1776) and represent tapa-making practices from various islands including Hawai‘i, Tahiti and Tonga. While the books contain only fragments of much larger creations, they highlight the variety of textures and artistry attained through the practices, knowledge, and skills of Pacific peoples.

Held in Tahiti in 2023, ‘Ahu: Ngā Wairua o Hina brought tapa makers of Tongan, Sāmoan, Niuean, Fijian, Hawaiian, Tahitian, Pitcairn-Norfolk Island, and Māori descent. Over five days this group worked together to re-establish their living relationships to the cloth held within the Alexander Shaw book. Through a process of wānanga this group of makers created two tapa bundles, incorporating the ideas of past, present, and future. Today, one of the bundles resides with Te Papa and the other with Te Fare Iamanaha-Musée de Tahiti et des Îles.