Tapa

About the Author

Dr Nina Tonga is from the villages of Vaini and Kolofo‘ou, Tonga, and is Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. She has worked as an art curator in Aotearoa and the wider Pacific for over fifteen years. Her curatorial projects include acclaimed exhibitions Pacific Sisters: Fashion activists at Te Papa and To Make/Wrong/Right/Now, the second Honolulu Biennial. Nina is the co-author with Dr Sarah Farrar and Jill Trevelyan of Robin White: Something is happening here, which was a finalist in the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. She is also the Arts Editor of The Contemporary Pacific journal.

Dr Rachel Yates is a Pacific historian whose gafa connects her to the Sāmoan villages of Vaisala and Sataua, and to English heritage from Merseyside. A former Curator Pacific Cultures at Te Papa, she has contributed to several publications including Te Papa Press titles Flora (2023) and Tatau: A history of Sāmoan tattooing (2018). She now works as a historian for Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

Dr Sean Mallon is of Sāmoan and Irish descent and is Senior Curator Pacific Cultures at Te Papa. He is the author of articles and books on the history of Pacific peoples in New Zealand, Pacific arts and museology. He most recently co-authored Tatau: A history of Sāmoan tattooing, with Sebastien Galliot (2018). His exhibitions include Tangata o le Moana: The story of Pacific people and New Zealand (2006), Paperskin: The art of tapa cloth (2010) and Tatau: Sāmoan tattooing and photography (2019).