Catalog

Pieces of Cloth, Pieces of Culture: Tapa from Tonga and the Pacific Islands is available for sale through the Center.

Authored by visiting scholar Dr. Ping-Ann Addo, the book features a catalog of 34 color plates of tapa cloth (bark cloth) and objects from the Pacific Islands, scholarly essays, and a highlight of the Bay Area Tongan women who worked to produce the first tapa cloth to be made in the United States.

Chapters 1 and 2 provide a reflection on the recent production of the Tongan tapa cloth in Oakland, California.

Chapter 3 is a short survey of tapa cloth making in the Pacific Island cultures of Tonga, Samoa, Futuna, Hawaii, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji. Chapter 4 concludes the book with a more in-depth discussion of what tapa cloth means to communities of Tongans who dwell both inside and outside the Kingdom of Tonga.

Pieces of Cloth, Pieces of Culture: Tapa from Tonga and the Pacific Islands is a publication by the Center for Art and Public Life and the California Academy of Sciences' Department of Anthropology with guidance and input from the 'Otufelenite Tongan Community Group.

DVD

Pieces of Cloth, Pieces of Culture: Tapa Making and Community Collaboration is a documentary available for sale through the Center.

The film commemorates the production of the first ngatu, a kind of Tongan barkcloth, ever produced the United States. With natural materials brought to Oakland from the Kingdom of Tonga, 12 Tongan artists collaborated with the California College of the Arts and the California Academy of Sciences to demonstrate the making and meaning of this historic textile.

The artistic process remains part of Tongan cultural heritage and is a legacy to future generations in diaspora.
The documentary portrays how the work of art served as a focal point for Bay Area Tongans, the college, and the academy to create a community in support of vibrant cultural production in California.

50 minutes.
Additional material: "Pieces of Cloth, Pieces of Culture: Tongan Tapa Cloth," 10 minutes.

To Order

Book: $20. DVD: $10.

Book and DVD: $25.

Purchases can be made from our office located at 5275 Broadway, Oakland (near College Avenue).

If you would like a copy mailed to you, send a check, payable to California College of the Arts, to Center for Art and Public Life, Attn: Tapa Project, California College of the Arts, 5212 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94618.