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Art

Tapa: Art Of The Gift In Polynesia

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Exhibition Dates: November 2, 2026–December 12, 2027
Exhibition Location: The Met Fifth Avenue, Gallery 359

(Fijian artists; interior Viti Levu. Masi kesa (bark cloth panels). Mid–late 19th century. Bark cloth, pigment. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Adelaide and Edmund Carpenter, 1990 (1990.333.9, .10)

New York, October, 2026)—At the heart of cultural and political diplomacy in the islands of Polynesia are vibrant bark cloth textiles, known as tapa that signify status and play a central role at all major ceremonial events. Known locally as masi, siapo, or hiapo the cloth is produced from the softened inner bark of trees, and is characterized by its unique materiality and the dynamic geometric designs that are painted, stamped, or stenciled onto its surface. Part of a textile tradition developed in the islands of Southeast Asia over 3,500 years ago, the transformation of individual strips of fiber into an entirely new surface evokes the reproductive potential of land (vanua; fanua), encapsulating its abundance and agency. Opening on November 2, 2026, Tapa: Art of the Gift in Polynesia will bring together 13 impressive works from the islands of Fiji, Samoa, Futuna, and Niue, highlighting spectacular, supple, and finely produced examples of bark cloth from The Met collection in addition to sculpted works and an exceptional hiapo on loan from Te Papa Tongarewa, the National Museum of New Zealand.

Presentation of Fijian mats and tapa cloths to Queen Elizabeth II during the 1953–54 royal tour, silver gelatin print, 16.5 x 22 cm (Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand)

Tapa: Art of the Gift in Polynesia is the second show to be presented in the In-Focus gallery of the Museum’s Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, part of the major reenvisioning of The Met’s collection celebrating the arts of Africa, the ancient Americas, and Oceania, which reopened in May 2025 and has since welcomed over 2.8 million visitors. The exhibition will illuminate the variation in stylistic traits that appear across islands and are informed by distinct cosmological meaning and will also offer a nuanced appreciation of the networks of ancestral agency and influence that were, and continue to be, shaped by ceremonial gifting and exchange.

“This exhibition gives us the opportunity to showcase the Museum’s collection of Polynesian bark cloths, not simply as skillfully designed and crafted objects but as active instruments of diplomacy and exchange,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer. “The works on view speak powerfully to the deep knowledge, expertise, and continued vitality of this tradition across the Pacific Islands.”

“We are delighted to feature an exceptional set of 19th-century tapa produced by women in the islands of Fiji, Samoa, Futuna, and Niue as the second exhibition in our recently inaugurated In-Focus gallery. The works are remarkable for their visual dynamism and acuity, a vivid expression of the generative power of women who manifest their ancestral associations with the land through the medium of hand-painted bark cloth, which embodies its abundance. We look forward to sharing this important genre of Oceanic art with our visitors,” said Maia Nuku, Curator for the Arts of Oceania in The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing.

Among the works on view in the exhibition—many for the first time—is a selection of six textiles that were diplomatic gifts presented by high-ranking Samoan chiefs to the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife Fanny.

Best known for the novels Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Stevenson lived in Samoa during the last years of his life and penned A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa (1892), which sharply critiqued German, British, and U.S. political interference and strongly advocated for Samoan chiefs (matai) and the maintaining of their customary structures of governance. The intentional gifting of these bark cloths to Stevenson and his family recalibrates the role of Samoan leaders who were active participants in the complex network of 19th-century colonial expansion unfolding in the Pacific at that time, while also exemplifying the strategic ways Islanders adapted the parameters of existing ceremonial frameworks as a tool to accommodate newcomers into their cultural and political relationships.

The Blue Plateau Of Polynesian Memory by J. P. Puie

The show will also feature a large contemporary monochrome painting by renowned Niuean poet and painter John Puhiatau Pule (born 1962), whose early paintings drew inspiration from the dynamic hiapo designs that the island of Niue is famous for and that became for him a foundation for his own deeply personal iconography, which confronts the ways in which Islanders met these irrevocable forces of change with creative ingenuity.

Credits and Related Content

Tapa: Art of the Gift in Polynesia is organized by Maia Nuku, Evelyn A. J. Hall and John A. Friede Curator for the Arts of Oceania at The Met.

The exhibition is featured on The Met website, as well as on social media.


Featured image– Masi, Fiji, date unknown, barkcloth, 185 x 122.5 cm (Auckland War Memorial Museum)

For the Silo, Jarrod Barker.

Travel

How I Met My Wife Halfway In Zhengzhou China

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Zhengzhou- "Once into the downtown, the pace slows somewhat."
Zhengzhou- “Once into the downtown, the pace slows somewhat.”

How I met my wife halfway…Elegant Confusion………Being delivered by car (my wife’s friend and a co-worker) to the Hotel in the downtown area of Zhengzhou, bursting along the byways and expressways from the Airport, cars around us dancing across the indistinct markings of the lanes in what could be described as a level of a video game in progress, I had no idea ( a horn honks and a bus switches lanes in front of us ‘sans’ signal..) that the “Art” of driving could manifest itself in such a reckless song trying so very hard to be a “ballet”.

My first impressions were to be made, however innocent, a misplaced fantasy.. As we made our way across the edge of this city of 8 1/2 million souls.., it was plain that this was far different than the large, ‘controlled’ infrastructures of North America.. A place where those, who in the faltering of the majority of their lives, seeking to maintain “control” of most aspects of their lives, would be shattered as if a piece of glass  hitting the concrete of this sudden reality. I believe that all this time seeking that ‘control’, having it slip through the grasps of their expectations, is the cause of so much anger, disappointment, and frustration in North Americans’ lives..

There is no “Road Rage” here.

If this is how you imagined driving in one of China's cities would look like you're mistaken. So says writer, farmer and traveler Bill Stewart.
If this is how you imagined driving in one of China’s cities would look like you’re mistaken.

Once into the downtown, the pace slows somewhat, taking time to congeal into something even more unexpected.. Now there are people, thousands of them,.. mixed with electric bikes, bicycles, motorcycles, pedestrians, carts of vegetables and fruit perched high on platforms innovatively connected to motorcycles, wagons of produce drawn by donkeys and cars.. All are dancing in and out of lanes of traffic, up onto sidewalks, threading the pedestrians walking different directions, the buses and taxis faster than the rest..

Cars and motorbikes making U-turns anywhere without notice.., a car honks, someone concedes the space, and life goes on.

The remarkable impression to be made here for a Caucasian in ‘Neverland’,… is that, there are no egos here to set off a clash of emotional diatribes leading to certain physical, or vocal, outbursts.. Just ‘focus’ of purpose.. There is only the destination to be sought.., nothing more matters.. It is not a matter of forgiveness, on the part of the conceded ,.. just a plain sense of infective respect.. An old woman, peddling a bicycle, weaves suddenly directly across the lanes of traffic.. I look away, fearing the sounds and images of her death.. A few impatient honks from the cars,.. all traffic stops.. as she slowly winds her way to the sidewalk on the other side of the street.., the motorbikes weaving around her, pacing in and out of the stopped buses, cars and taxis.. A woman on a motorbike with a child in front, one in back of her seat, sails by me on the sidewalk…It is ‘Elegance in Confusion’ at it’s finest.. For the Silo, Bill Stewart.

Here's what some folk are saying about the video above.
Here’s what some folk are saying about the video above.

Sci-Tech

How F1 Cars Move Around The World For Races

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This year’s 2019 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi GP is almost here! Have you ever wondered how the cars make it to the race?  It’s a logistical miracle. Custom containers. Hydraulic platforms. Modified cargo jet airliners and much, much more. If you’re a fan of F1 races you may have wondered how your favorite team manages to travel all around the globe in order to make it to the circuit safely on time. Some teams save money by using cargo ships and traveling via sea. Sometimes, they are required to complete this entire process from start to finish in only 48 hours!

Take a look at this nifty infographic from our friends at storagecentres.co.uk to learn more and have another level of appreciation for this incredible sport.