Anessi's Barkcloth Art (1982)

[Music] 40 million years ago our Islands were formed once part of ancient Polynesia the Kingdom of Tonga is where time [Music] begins my name is agnesi aafi and I'm 12 years old today is a very special day the king and queen are coming to our church for the first time and after that there will be a big Feast his majesty King tupu IV has ruled our kingdom since 1965 with Queen mat [Music] the Kingdom of Tonga is 2,000 m east of Australia in the South Pacific on the International Date Line and is the first country to see each new day there are 170 islands in the kingdom and my Village is on Pang Motu 20 minutes by vote from Nuku alaa the capital [Music] my best friend adade and I live in the same Village and love coming to tongatapu the main island sometimes we can see the king and queen and the celebration feasts are usually larger than on our Island [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] [Music] our island is small but very beautiful it has been home to our family for as long as anyone can remember and there's everything here we could want although I do wonder what it's like to ride in a car [Music] [Music] there are 150 people in our village and I live with my parents my brother and sister the islands of Tonga are famous for this special cloth our women make called tapa and this morning my mother is working on a large tapa piece as a wedding present for my cousin Fanny [Music] my mother melee and I are very close and like working together taper cloth is made from the bark of the paper mulberry tree and is often made in very large sheets which later will be cut down and decorated with old family designs it's used for bed spreads curtains hangings and even traditional clothes like my cousin will wear for her wedding [Music] [Music] you [Music] my mother says the wedding has been set for 2 weeks from today and she must work hard to get this piece ready my father Danielle works for the government in the capital as a supervisor in the main Market but today he wants me to help him Harvest more trees for the village tapa making fore foree spee the paper mberry trees we use for tapa grow all over the islands my father says we must pick young tall trees with few knots and branches this way the bark will be wide and long and make the best top of cloth these trees will be enough for us to make a piece of tapa about 12 ft Square [Music] [Music] after we strip the bark we peel away the rough outer layer my mother says to be extremely careful not to cut the soft inner layer that will use to make the topper cloth after these long strips of inner bark are soaked overnight they will be joined into lengths of top of [Music] [Music] material [Music] [Music] foree foreign on [Laughter] wow my grandmother halmi has been doing tapa work for almost 50 years and she says this afternoon we'll be preparing the tapa my father and I collected now that the inner bark is soft from soaking we beat it until it's about twice its original width but my grandmother says if we beat it too much the fibers will break down weakening the cloth whether are holes or flaws in the fibers we fold the weak layers together and beat them into a strong section my grandmother says when we all work well together our rhythms are the music of Tonga Now using tapioca we glue the strips side to side and end to to end until we have large taper sheets and by gluing as many as s to 10 layers on top of each other we can make thick strong cloth when this piece is finished it will be as big as the piece my mother is making for Fanny's wedding [Music] tomorrow is Saturday and adate and I will do the vegetable shopping in nuaa and afterwards we'll help my mom at the special Craft Market for the tour booat that comes each week from Australia [Music] [Applause] [Music] foree spee [Applause] [Music] pap [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] than you [Music] I'll take it you [Music] [Music] [Music] Adelaide and I are very excited that we saw the king and queen [Music] [Applause] [Music] spe [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I've decided to try making a taper present all by myself for my cousin's wedding and to take the design from this pattern of the Royal Crest my mother thinks it's a wonderful idea and says my choice is good it's small but intricate and challenging and tomorrow she'll help me make some new tappa for my gift [Music] [Music] everything we use in tapa making grows here on the island and the dye I'll use comes from this coca tree [Music] most Tapper pieces are made from raised patterns like this Royal Crest my mother says it's important to press through every line because as we glue on more layers to strengthen the cloth we want the final pattern to come through clearly by the time I'm finished my cousin's present will be three or four layers thick [Music] my mother says the pattern looks good and I'm very pleased now I must let the color and the glue dry then the design will be ready for highlighting with the black dye [Music] this morning I had an idea and my mother and father liked it I've written a wedding announcement for my cousin Fanny to be read over the Tonga radio [Music] station foreign spee fore Happ [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] my cousin's wedding is tomorrow and I should be finished in time our school holidays begin at noon and I'll have the rest of the day to finish it [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] finally it's ready and I think it looks good for [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it's a beautiful wedding and after the ceremony there'll be the present giving then dancing and feasting late Into the Night foren down [Music] [Applause] [Music] WS are very formal occasions in Tonga and so is the present giving ceremony a special official the matle announces each person who gives a gift but I'm too shy and I put my toer gift inside my Mother's so she can give it to my cousin and her new husband along with her own gift during the ceremony they can't show any reaction to individual gifts although when they find mine I'm sure they'll like it [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] oh fore [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Bo [Music] follow for [Music] go