Story and photos by Mary Lyn Fonua

Visiting New Zealand painter and printmaker Dame Robin White in collaboration with Ruha Fifita and local Tongan tapa makers, has produced an intriguing modern lau nima – a 25 metre long decorated barkcloth – that will be the centrepiece for an important exhibition of tapa at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, in June.

Hundreds of hours of work have gone into creating the lau nima for a series of tapa works called “Ko e Hala Hangatonu” or “The Straight Path”, which includes four smaller pieces of tapa (ngatu).

Dame Robin has previously exhibited painted tapa works made with Tongan creative artist Ruha Fifita and a group of Tongan women.

At the Ma‘ufanga Hall yesterday, January 5, the women displayed the new “Ko e Hala Hangatonu” lau nima, which is nearing completion.

The kupesi (stencils) were designed by Dame Robin and Ruha. At first glance, the lau nima appears to be an arrangement of elegantly portrayed traditional motifs, in an appealing arrangement of traditional colours, with a distinctive edging. But as the eye follows the central path along a row of pines, it becomes clear that this is an original artistic presentation with an international presence. Alongside strange rows of European-styled houses, doves, vases, and boats with oars, some new motifs make surprise appearances – a fruit bat, a war plane, a tank, an owl and a vase – and then questions are asked about their meaning and origins.

Ebonie Fifita, the creative director of the On the Spot arts association, who has been working on the tapa project since the end of November last year, said the kupesi made for the series essentially redesigned Tongan traditional motifs such as the lupe, kahoa, Sila and Hala Paini.  “There is symbolism from old Christian art, and Middle Eastern motifs, alongside German houses and Tongan art,” she said.

The artists have named the edging “Ko e Peau Fisihina” or “Ocean with white capped waves” and their neat detailed work on this large scale work, clearly raises the bar on modern tapa decoration in Tonga.

“The decoration is fine because we used kupesi to imprint the design,” said Ebonie (a sister of Ruha), who along with Dame Robin and Keiko Ma’asi has led the painting work.

The koka’anga - the work of joining the feta’aki and applying the kupesi or stencil, was done at Holonga. Work on the tapa production continued with different women working from 6:00am until 10:00pm over many weeks.

Sourcing high quality feta’aki, the fabric made from the bark of the paper mulberry plant, has been a challenge, said Ebonie.

“There is a shortage of material after last year’s Coronation, so we have sourced it from the Houma ladies, some from the local market, and also bought some from Ha’apai,” said Ebonie. “It is very important to use natural materials, and that the hiapo is grown traditionally.” The women found that hiapo grown quickly using fertilisers had produced inferior bark. They also stressed the importance of using traditional herbal glues that will preserve the work. She estimated the cost of producing a high quality lau nima today at over $5,000.

Dame Robin will take the lau nima to New Zealand at the end of this week, where she and Ruha Fifita will complete the last sections of the painting with traditional dyes, before they take it to Melbourne.

The “Ko e Hala Hangatonu” exhibition is expected to open on June 10 in the main hall at the National Gallery of Victoria.

“After that we hope the lau nima will find a home, but it is difficult to find a home for something this size,” said Dame Robin.