Vaiei Tupuna is an exhibition of contemporary tapa from across Moana Nui that brings together newly commissioned responses to taonga from the collections of Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection and The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, alongside historic and contemporary artworks that acknowledge the tūpuna and atua who activate this practice. Gifted by Sarah Vaki, elder and master tapa maker from Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas, the title of the exhibition translates as “heritage of our ancestors”. Vaiei Tupuna takes up these shared genealogies and histories of tapa to celebrate the vitality of the artform in the present, and to extend and build knowledge for the future.

Vaiei Tupuna both opens and closes with the figure of Poeatua, on loan from the collection of Te Papa Tongarewa. Painted in 1785, this portrait was one of the first images of an Indigenous woman of Moana Nui to circulate in Europe. A princess from Ra'iātea, Poeatua is part of a matrilineal line that extends back to Hina, the atua of tapa makers, whose presence is woven through Vaiei Tupuna. Poeatua’s inclusion here represents a commitment to rereading the past, restoring knowledge, honouring our tupuna and speaking their names. A collaboration between artists, makers, institutions and curators, Vaiei Tupunua asserts the enduring wairua of tapa’s ancestors, and present and future practitioners.

Featuring work by: Cora-Allan, Dalani Tanahy, Doron Semu, Hinatea Colombani, Liviana Qaranivalu, Nikau Hindin, Pauline Reynolds, Sarah Vaki, Sue Pearson, Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows, Tui Emma Gillies and ‘Uhila Moe Langi Nai. Vaiei Tupuna is curated by Rosalie Koko and Sophie Thorn, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery; Isaac Te Awa and Rebecca Rice, Te Papa; and Nālani Wilson-Hokowhitu, Va'aomanū Pasifika, Programme in Pacific Studies, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.