Shark bait – Le vaiaso o le gagana Sāmoa (Samoan Language Week) 2013

31 May 2013 – 11.07pm

Tu’i ipu (shark rattle) made by Tagaloa 1990.

Welcome to the sixth blog of our series celebrating le vaiaso o le gagana Sāmoa (Samoan Language Week) from 26-31 May 2013. This is a tu’i ipu – a rattle used by Samoan fishermen when they are hunting sharks. The Samoan word for shark is malie. The tu’i ipu is made from half shells of coconut threaded onto a wooden stick. Throughout the 20th century, fishermen would use baits and the tu’i ipu to attract the attention of sharks and lure them to their canoes. Using a specially prepared noose the fisherman aimed to have the shark swim through a rope noose. An account written by ethnologist Te Rangi Hiroa in 1930, describes the shark rattle and the noosing of a shark.

“There is no special care taken in making the rattles. Any shells and any suitable wood serve the purpose. They are used to attract attention by lowering the shells well down into the water and working the handle part violently up and down, care being taken to keep the shells submerged. A sound is made not by the shells clicking together but by the commotion of the water caused by the cups being drawn up and down. The commotion in the water, according to the Samoans, conveys the idea to the shark that there is a school of fish about. As it swims in the direction of the sound, another of the shark’s senses conies under the influence of the bait lures. When a shark is seen in the vicinity of the bait lures, the rattle is drawn up [….] The noose is lowered into the water with the hand above the surface and the loop at right angles to the canoe. The assistant manipulates the bait so as to draw the shark which follows it into the noose. As the shark’s head enters the noose, the expert’s right hand carries the loop back until it touches the shark’s dorsal fin.The dorsal fin is an anatomical landmark. The shark’s lower jaw is set well back and the noose must not be closed until it is behind the lower jaw. Immediately the right hand touches the dorsal fin, the expert knows that the noose is behind the lower jaw, so he pulls the rope taut with his left hand while the right holds the eye of the noose firmly against the side of the shark.”

The shark is usually killed with a club or spear. This technique was still in use in the late 2oth century.

By seanjmallon | Posted in Pacific | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Warhol: Immortal Pop Up Pop Art!

31 May 2013 – 4.52pm

The ‘Pop Up Pop Art’ event celebrated the launch of the visiting Andy Warhol exhibition, Warhol: Immortal, opening tomorrow at Te Papa.

Photos from Flickr

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Warhol: Immortal, a set on Flickr.

This community art project was devised to create excitement around Warhol: Immortal, and celebrate the life and work of Andy Warhol.

The initiative was to create a highly participatory experience for as many people as possible whilst also forming an art piece which echoes the ethos of Warhol himself.

Warhol: Immortal

More than anything else, Warhol was obsessed with people. His preoccupation is perhaps even more pertinent today, in an era of intense social networking, reality TV, and YouTube. His past words take on a prophetic status: ‘In the future, everybody will be world famous for 15 minutes.

The exhibition features Warhol’s portraits of friends, celebrities, socialites, politicians, and rock stars across multiple media – paintings, MTV videos, experimental films, screen prints, drawings, and magazine covers. Among them are the flamboyant, repetitive portraits that made him most famous. As he once said: ‘Isn’t life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?’

Startling self-portraits from a 40-year period show the persona of Andy Warhol developing over time, until close to his death in 1987. He immortalised himself as much others – on canvas if not elsewhere. He once mused about being ‘reincarnated as a great big ring on Liz Taylor’s finger’ and another time quipped: ‘I never think that people die. They just go to department stores.’

Warhol: Immortal is organised by The Andy Warhol Museum, one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, in collaboration with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

By Te Papa | Posted in Warhol | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Packed with alofa (love) – Le vaiaso o le gagana Sāmoa (Samoan Language Week)

30 May 2013 – 4.27pm
FE012635; Umu pack; circa 2008; Unknown; cardboard

FE012635; Umu pack; circa 2008; Unknown; cardboard; Gift of Reverend Iamanu Amaama, 2011

Welcome to the fifth blog of our series celebrating le vaiaso o le gagana Sāmoa (Samoan Language Week) from 26-31 May 2013.

When travelling to the Pacific Islands, people often return to New Zealand with a range of gifts and food. Many of these prepared by family and friends. This umu box represents this exchange in a tangible way, as it was brought to New Zealand by Reverend Iamanu Amaama and his wife Toeafualetaeao, parents of a Samoan man who had recently migrated here. Inside the box was lu’au (cooked taro leaves), taro and ufi (yam), prepared by the young man’s family.

The increased biosecurity measures implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) has meant a more regularised form of checking. Thus, this umu box provides a safe way of transporting and distributing food. It also demonstrates New Zealand’s acknowledgement of this important form of cultural exchange between families in Sāmoa and overseas. Although some of the Pacific delicacies can be found in New Zealand, nothing beats a home cooked umu meal, made with alofa (love).

By Safua Akeli | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments (0)

A collection of Fa’alupega (chiefly titles) – Le vaiaso o le gagana Sāmoa (Samoan language week)

29 May 2013 – 4.06pm
FE012543; O le Tusi FAALUPEGA o Samoa; 1981; Malua Printing Press; printing paper; Samoa Islands

FE012543; O le Tusi FAALUPEGA o Samoa; 1981; Gift of Safua Akeli, 2010; Te Papa

 To celebrate le vaiaso o le gagana Samoa (Samoan language week) 26-31 May 2013, the Pacific Cultures curators are highlighting stories related to cultural treasures from Sämoa.

Fa’alupega or the naming of chiefly titles is a fundamental part of Samoan culture and custom, as it connects individuals and families to land and origins of their past. This book O le tusi fa’alupega o Samoa was adapted from the work of Misi Kirifi Le Mamea, Te’o Tuvale, T. E. Faletoese, F. F. A. and Kirisome, F. L. with the first edition published in 1915. It includes key titles from Upolu, Savai’i, Apolima and Manono. This knowledge is usually acquired over time by matai (chief) and are recalled and acknowledged in speeches during special ceremonies and events.

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The London Missionary Society established the Malua Theological College in Samoa in 1844, and along with the school, the Malua Printing Press which published the bible and written work like this book. In the introduction Harry Strong Griffin, supervisor of the press at the time, highlights the text as a “to’oto’o i le ua vaivai” – a help to those who are weak.

This book represents an important collection and moment in Samoa’s history, where indigenous Samoans collated the oratorical recollection of titles in written form. This was the first of its kind, as previous publications of fa’alupega were published through the work of foreigners.

This edition was published in 1981. Previously it belonged to Reverend Ioane Akeli, a catechist working for the Catholic Mission in Sāmoa. It was brought to New Zealand by his son Suluape Visesio Akeli when he migrated with his family to Wellington in the 1980s.

By Safua Akeli | Posted in Collections Online, History, Pacific | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Plant Conservation Conference and weedy native plants

29 May 2013 – 12.21pm

I’m just back from the 2013 conference of the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network, where I presented a talk about weedy native plants.

The programme of talks included updates on the conservation status of New Zealand’s plants, and the new system being implemented by the Department of Conservation to prioritise management of ecosystems and species. Another talk detailed the significance of the Denniston area for New Zealand’s liverworts.

There were several inspiring accounts of hands-on intervention successfully stabilising threatened native plant populations or even bringing about their recovery. One example involved using lawnmowers and herbicides at a high altitude site to control aggressive weeds!

Others reported their investigations of the ecology and/or relationships of New Zealand plants.

Programme of talks.

Videos of most of the talks.

Hoheria populnea (houhere, lacebark) is native to the northern North Island. But after being cultivated more widely, it has spread to the wild in many parts of central and southern New Zealand, and has become a problem weed in several places. Photo Leon Perrie. © Leon Perrie.

Hoheria populnea (houhere, lacebark) is native to the northern North Island. But after being cultivated more widely, it has spread to the wild in many parts of central and southern New Zealand, and has become a problem weed in several places. Photo Leon Perrie. © Leon Perrie.

I was invited to give a keynote address in the symposium on ‘weedy natives’. My focus was on native plants growing outside their natural range within New Zealand.

Many New Zealand native plants occurred in only part of the country. Humans have now moved some of these further afield, and some of these native plants are flourishing in parts of New Zealand where they did not occur naturally.

In some cases, non-local native plants are threatening locally-native species.

Pittosporum crassifolium (karo) is native to the northern North Island. However, it has been widely cultivated, and is now spreading aggressively in many places. In Titahi Bay, karo threatens to displace locally-native species, including some of conservation significance. In the photo, karo is overtopping, and will eventually displace, the locally-native Melicytus obovatus. Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa

Pittosporum crassifolium (karo) is native to the northern North Island. However, it has been widely cultivated, and is now spreading aggressively in many places. In Titahi Bay, karo threatens the survival of locally-native species, including some of conservation significance. In the photo, karo is overtopping, and will eventually displace, the locally-native Melicytus obovatus. Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa

Communities and land managers have decisions to make about how to deal with the spread of non-local native plants.

I dared suggest that, in the Wellington context as an example, non-local native plants like karo and (northern) houhere (and perhaps karaka, where outside sites of cultural significance) might be viewed in the same light as exotic (not native to New Zealand) ecological weeds such as pink ragwort, boneseed, brush wattle, and Darwin’s barberry; and that they should be managed accordingly.

I finished by suggesting that anyone can help by learning what plants are locally-native to their region, and then observing and reporting non-local plants ‘behaving badly’.

We also might take more care with what we plant. Non-local native plants make for fantastically interesting gardens; I have lots in my own garden. But we might forgo those species whose weediness has already been demonstrated.

Video of my talk.

By Leon Perrie | Posted in Biodiversity, Plants | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

Behind the scenes: A week in the life of a natural history curator

29 May 2013 – 9.26am

What does a Te Papa curator do? I spent last week following Te Papa’s terrestrial vertebrate curator Alan Tennyson to find out. Here are some of the main highlights:

 Visitors

Monday saw Alan meet with Trish Nugent-Lyne, a collection manager at Whanganui Regional Museum. Te Papa staff are helping Trish prepare an articulated dog skeleton for an exhibition Whanganui Regional Museum is holding at the end of the year. The dog bones Trish brought were put into Te Papa’s dermestid beetle tanks to clean them.

Alan examining a skeleton being cleaned by beetles.

Alan examining a skeleton being cleaned by beetles.

Alan also showed Trish through the vertebrate collections where they viewed other skeletons that she may borrow from Te Papa for their exhibition. They also discussed different storage techniques for fragile items such as eggshells.
Alan and Trish looking at birds eggs in Te Papa's collection. Te Papa has recently improved their storage method of these fragile items.

Alan and Trish looking at birds eggs in Te Papa’s collection. Te Papa has recently improved their storage method of these fragile items.


Many researchers visit Te Papa, both from within New Zealand and overseas, to use the natural history collections for research. This week Alan communicated with a Chilean researcher who wants to visit Te Papa to examine pleisosaur bones. 

Outreach and networking

Last week was Primary Science week. During the week Te Papa curators and educators visited schools in the Wellington region. On Thursday Alan spent the day at Dyer Street School in Naenae talking to the kids about his job as a curator. The kids especially enjoyed seeing the moa bones and giant shark teeth that Alan took along and hearing about his fieldwork in Vanuatu.

Alan was interviewed by Alison Balance from Radio New Zealand about the New Zealand Birds online project, led by Te Papa curator Colin Miskelly. Alan’s contribution to this website has been writing the texts for a number of living and extinct bird species and contributing photos. This week he worked on the final edits of some texts (the website goes live over Queen’s birthday weekend) and took photos of extinct penguin bones which will be displayed on the website.

On Wednesday afternoon Alan attended the launch of a new fossil book at GNS in Lower Hutt. These types of events provide a great opportunity to network with colleagues working at other institutions. 

Public and professional enquiries

Te Papa receives many enquiries from the public, these are passed on to the appropriate curator to deal with. For Alan these types of enquiries typically involve identifying birds or fossils.  However, this week Alan also responded to an enquiry wanting advice about restoring seabird sites in the Waikato.  He also discussed developing legislation to prevent the sale of moa bones with the Department of Conservation.

Research

This week Alan assisted me with selecting prion samples from Te Papa’s bird skin collection for DNA analysis. Alan is part of the Te Papa seabird research team undertaking several projects into seabird taxonomy.

Alan looking at a selection of Te Papa's prion skins.

Alan looking at a selection of Te Papa’s prion skins.

This week Alan learnt that a team he works with in Adelaide have identified a couple of bat teeth from new species. These had been previously collected from the St Bathans fossil site in central Otago. Alan has been involved in excavating this site for the past 12 years. It takes many months to sort through the material collected in a single trip. 

Further time was spent in the collections identifying bones from the Chatham Islands, including an extinct penguin, that had been donated to Te Papa. 

Collection development

Alan also manages contractor Catherine, who prepares new bird skeletons, wings and tails for inclusion in Te Papa’s collection.  He decides which specimens Catherine should prepare and the type of preparation each one needs. This involves checking both the condition of the specimens and seeing what is already held in the collections.

Alan with a shearwater skeleton prepared by Catherine.

Alan with a shearwater skeleton prepared by Catherine.


A wing being prepared by Catherine for incorporation into the collection.

A wing being prepared by Catherine for incorporation into the collection.

By Lara Shepherd | Posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Education, Fossils, Museums | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Le vaiaso o le gagana Sāmoa (Sāmoan language week): Inspired inscriptions – mama (rings)

28 May 2013 – 10.44pm

To celebrate le vaiaso o le gagana Samoa (Sāmoan language week) 26-31 May 2013, the Pacific Cultures curators are highlighting stories related to cultural treasures from Sämoa.

European style rings, bracelets and brooches are popular forms of personal adornment made in Sāmoa from at least the 1920’s to the present day. They were typically constructed from turtle shell, coconut shell and coloured glass. Many of them feature a silver inset of words and/or motifs. They were inset with the names of places, individual people or families, or just decorative patterns or images. Like other forms of adornment they could be gifted as keepsakes or souvenirs and could reference relationships and memories of friends and loved ones.

Examples of jewellery collected in Sāmoa in the 1960’s show the local appropriation of ideas and motifs from other cultures. Made with the same inset elements they feature motifs such as swordfish, turtles and Fijian bure (houses) alongside the words Apia and Sāmoa. As well as borrowing cultural motifs or symbols, new and readily available materials were also utilised. In 1964, brooches and pins were commonly made from toothbrush handles and the rims of sunglasses. These techniques of manufacture and style of item are still commonly found in contemporary Apia markets. The ring is part of a small collection of jewellery, ornaments and textiles that belonged to Percy Williams, founding headmaster (1924–27) of Avele Agricultural School and teacher (1928–31) at Malifa School, Sāmoa. These items were donated to Te Papa by Barbara Williams in 1986.

 

 

By seanjmallon | Posted in Fashion, Pacific | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

This month last century: May 1953

28 May 2013 – 4.29pm

Sixty years ago, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain (29 May 1953)

Brian Brake 'Portrait of Edmund Hillary', circa 1947. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa

Brian Brake ‘Portrait of Edmund Hillary’, circa 1947. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa

The two men’s mountaineering triumph came just a few days before Queen Elizabeth II was crowned. Their feat boosted the rejoicing that was already taking place throughout the British Commonwealth because of the coronation.

Knighted soon after this momentous event, Sir Edmund Hillary life’s achievements as a mountaineer and philanthropist are universally well-known. Although he passed away in 2008, he remains eternally a national hero.

New Zealanders are very familiar with Sir Edmund’s profile, partly because his portrait features on the country’s five dollar bills. In contrast to these everyday reminders of the great man are two unique and instantly recognisable artworks that depict Sir Edmund, which are held in Te Papa’s collections.

The first is a photographic portrait (shown at the top of this blog post) taken in the late 1940s by another famous New Zealander, Brian Brake. Brake took Edmund Hilllary’s photograph, probably for his personal portfolio, while he was working in Spencer Digby’s photography studio in Wellington. 

Ophelia Gordon-Bell 'Sir Edmund Hillary', circa 1953. Gift of the New Zealand Dairy Produce Marketing Commission, 1955. Te Papa

Ophelia Gordon-Bell ‘Sir Edmund Hillary’, circa 1953. Gift of the New Zealand Dairy Produce Marketing Commission, 1955. Te Papa

The second artwork is a bronze bust (above) sculpted by English artist Ophelia Gordon-Bell. Gordon-Bell met Sir Edmund Hillary at the Eskdale Outward Bound Centre in the English Lake District, where a reunion of members of the Everest expedition was held. Eric Shipton, who had controversially been overlooked as the leader of the expedition, was the centre’s warden at the time.

The bronze bust was exhibited in London in 1955 and subsequently purchased by the New Zealand Dairy Produce Marketing Commission. The marketing commission then donated the bust to the National Art Gallery. It is now displayed on level four at Te Papa in Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa.

Read about Sir Edmund Hillary’s life on the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography website

Find out about the reception of Hillary and Norgay’s conquest of Everest on the Slice of Heaven exhibition website

By Kirstie Ross | Posted in Collections Online, History, Photography, Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Le vaiaso o le gagana Sāmoa (Sāmoan language week) : the fue – symbol of the Samoan orator

27 May 2013 – 10.14pm

To celebrate le vaiaso o le gagana Sāmoa (Sāmoan language week) 26-31 May 2013, the Pacific Cultures curators are highlighting stories related to cultural treasures from Sāmoa.

This is a fue, an item of regalia important for a Sāmoan tulafale (orator). They use fue when they deliver lauga (oratorical speeches). High chiefs can also carry them but only when appearing as orators.

In Sāmoa, lauga is presented in two main settings, either indoors within a house or fale or outdoors on the malae (village green). There are different conventions for using the fue in these settings. For example, inside a fale, the tulafale delivers his speech sitting with their legs crossed. They will often make several movements with it before starting their speech. This may involve throwing it over the left and right shoulders before placing it on the floor. The speech is then delivered with the left wrist on one knee and the right palm on the floor in line with the buttock.

Fue are usually made from lengths of braided coconut fibre (sennit) attached to a short wooden handle. However, in the 1920s it had become the custom to use horse hair exclusively for high chiefs. The fue you see pictured was once owned by James Baxter Fleck (1869-1939) who served with the New Zealand Army Occupation Force in Western Sāmoa from 1915-1919. The other fue below, are examples from the Te Papa collections.

Fue (fly whisk) Gift of Mrs Alice Hunt, 2000

Elderly man with fue by photographer Thomas Andrews

Fue (fly whisk) Gift of Mrs Louisa Kronfeld, 1939

Fue (fly whisk) Gift of Dr Alex M Rutherford, 1954

Mata’afa [Iosefo Laiufi] in European dress and carrying a Fue (flywhisk). By photographer Thomas Andrew.

 

By seanjmallon | Posted in Pacific | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Mirek Smisek (1925–2013)

27 May 2013 – 3.34pm

It is with sadness that we farewell the distinguished New Zealand potter Mirek Smisek, who passed away last week.

Mirek’s life was dedicated to his craft. He began working with clay in Sydney, after having left his devastated homeland, Czechoslovakia, at the end of World War II.

Mirek consolidated his passion for pottery when he moved to New Zealand in 1951: first at Crown Lynn’s Auckland factory, where he made free-flowing decorative vases, and later, when he established a pottery studio in Nelson, and then Horowhenua. The salt-glazed pottery that defined his work as a studio potter reflects his abiding interest in local clays, glaze treatments, and cultural traditions.

A group of Mirek’s Crown Lynn ceramics is currently on display in Ngā Toi | Arts Te Papa, in the Being Modern gallery. Mirek made these brown-manganese-slip vases during his lunch hours at Crown Lynn. As well as illustrating the flowing decorative line that characterised his work, these vases reflect his view that pottery should be hand made rather than commercially created – a view he held to throughout his career. Mirek was always true to himself.

Between 1978 and 1982, Stan Jenkins recorded Mirek’s Te Horo practice for the Ministry of Education. Mirek Smisek: Potter has now become an invaluable record of Mirek’s dedication to the craft that he committed his life to.

See Mirek Smisek’s work on Collections Online

“Bohemia Ware” vase. 1951 – 1952, New Zealand. Smisek, Mirek, Crown Lynn Potteries Ltd. Purchased 2009. Te Papa

Vase, 1970-1972, New Zealand. Smisek, Mirek. Purchased 1972 with Ellen Eames Collection funds. Te Papa

Justine Olsen, Curator of Decorative Art and Design

By Te Papa | Posted in Art | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)
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