Awekura - Tongan Traditional Dress, 1983

Awekura is a blog and podcast series that highlights treasures within Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. In this series, library specialists provide a window into the world of these special collections.

Recently we opened Lupe I Vao Ese, a Pacific heritage exhibition at Auckland Central City Library. The phrase "Lupe I Vao Ese" is a poetic metaphor from Gagana Sāmoa, translating as "doves in different pastures." It expresses how measina - the cultural treasures of Moana Oceania - travel across time and place, carrying the voices of ancestors into the present and beyond.

Featuring in the exhibition and discussed in the interview below, Pamata Toleafoa, Curator Pasifika, highlights tapa as one of the measina displayed in the exhibition. Of interest is a contemporary [1983] unique ephemeral greeting card, made in tapa and depicting Tongan traditional dress.

Image: Front page of the ephemera. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections Eph-Item00012.

The ephemera collection at Auckland Libraries is a curated collection of material that adds social, sentimental and cultural value to research. Ephemera mostly consists of posters, flyers, programme sheets, and other printed material that were created for a short life span. Usually ephemera is printed on paper, but this item is printed on tapa cloth and cut to the A6 greeting card size. On the cover you see a male and female figure dressed in Tongan cultural attire. At the back, there is a brief statement about the significance of the attire, the hard work put into making tapa and the fluidity of tapa cloth being used from clothing to mats and printing. You can view the digitized material on KURA: Tongans Traditional Dress, 1983.

Other tapa based items include: