Jasmine Tuiā, Roo(u)tes

This body of siapo works is inspired by a conversation between Jasmine and Leon Taupaki about siapo sheets. They imagined a siapo sheet decorated with embroidery over a period of time, made up of multiple routes of threads, telling different places, shapes, and stories of creation within their community. Roo(u)tes follows this idea of making over time — drawing on personal interactions, re-rooting and routing intimate siapo narratives. 

"Kia ora and talofa lava! My name is Jasmine Tuiā, and I am a Siapo (bark-cloth) maker based in Tāmaki Makaurau. I am from the villages of Matautu Lefaga, Malifa Apia and Falefa Anoama’a. My artistic practice examines Sāmoan storytelling concepts with bark-cloth practices and community talanoa. Influenced by talanoa of places, people, and waters of Matautu Lefaga Sāmoa and here in Tāmaki Makaurau where I work and reside, my practice explores the re-representation and reclamation of Pacific identities with siapo, reinforcing the importance of collective making and Moana voices within Pacific textile spaces."

Jasmine Tuia, 2022