| Brief Description |
This tapa, or barkcloth, is from the Pacific region and is made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree, Broussonetia papyrifera, and dyed brown. It is heavily painted with a black and brown resinous glaze of o'a sap mixed with charcoal or black dye from lama nut kernels. The barkcloth is rectangular in shape, the outer border is black and has been cut into a zig-zag pattern. There are seven stripes around the outside in alternating black, brown and cream. The centre consists of alternating black and brown vertical stripes.
Pacific artist Fatu Feu'u commented in 1999 that it was very abstract and probably modern. He used this tapa as the inspiration for a series of works based on the Whanganui Regional Museum's tapa collection for inclusion in the exhibition Tapa - Heartbeat of the Pacific (1999-2000).
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