[‘ahu • aute • hiapo • kapa • lepau • masi • ngatu • siapo]

Through reconnection and talanoa, Tapa Moana Nui nurtures the knowledge and traditions of tapa, acknowledging each artist’s journey as both personal and part of a collective voyage. The group includes formally and informally trained artists who explore tools, techniques, and motifs unique to their fa’asinomaga, a sense of cultural identity shaped by both homeland and Pacific diaspora. In their work, tapa is celebrated not only as material but as a vessel for genealogy, memory, and identity. Each piece holds both continuity and innovation—situating tapa within indigenous and diasporic contexts, while affirming its vitality for the present and future.

Artist bio:

Tapa Moana Nui is an intergenerational collective of tangata Moana artists and makers based across the North Island and beyond. Dedicated to celebrating, sharing, and revitalising tapa, the collective honours ancestral ingenuity while envisioning futures for this practice to flourish for generations to come.