The Met will open Tapa: Art of the Gift in Polynesia on November 2. The focused presentation in Gallery 359 explores bark cloth as a medium of ceremonial exchange, cultural identity and diplomacy.
The museum says the exhibition brings together thirteen works associated with Fiji, Samoa, Futuna and Niue, including material from its own collection and a loan from New Zealand’s Te Papa Tongarewa. It also includes textiles given to Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife by Samoan chiefs. The exhibition runs through December 12, 2027, placing historical textile traditions alongside questions of political encounter and artistic continuity.
Illustrative file photograph of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This photograph depicts the institution; it does not depict the exhibition or artworks discussed. Photo: Hugo Schneider / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. File photograph; display crops may apply.
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