Women from Tahiti, Hawai‘i and the Cook Islands have been creating large and elaborate appliqué quilts for centuries. Emma Tamarii came to this art form after she migrated to Tahiti later in life, bringing with her the knowledge and aesthetics of her upbringing on the Marquesas Islands.

On Tamarii’s Tifaifai (Marquesan style) 2000, for example, a circular pattern is quartered by strong intersecting lines, known as the Marquesan cross. When marked as a tattoo on the body, this design both enacts and symbolises a state of balance. On Tamarii’s tifaifai (quilt), the repetition of this form provides a sense of symmetry that is representative of this type of needlework in Tahiti.

Amongst the complex patterns in this quilt are also what appear to be faces inside each of the circles and the spaces that their touching forms create. This suggestion of ‘eye spots’, as well as noses and mouths, refers to the tiki (godling) figure, and designs from Marquesan material culture and body art. It is believed that these tiki motifs enable the etua (gods, or deified ancestors) to protect these objects and artefacts, as well as those who wear them.

Created with her daughter, Tamarii’s appliquéd quilt Reine de nuit tifaifai (Tahitian style) 2000 features a repeating pattern of the flower known as the ‘queen of the night’, a cactus plant that only flowers between dusk and dawn. Like early Tahitian barkcloth designs that involved imprinting leaves dipped in red dye onto the surface of barkcloth, this work is a striking combination of red against white. Inherently transformative, the resulting pattern acts as an endless source of inspiration and innovation across generations.