KULUPU FALEHANGA 'I TELEILOA 2011.170
July 2010
This ngatu tā'uli, customarily made and used for chiefly ceremonies, was commissioned by the Gallery. Created by a Tongan art group based in Auckland, New Zealand, working with a women's art group from Tatakamotonga, Tonga, the ngatu is 22 metres in length and with a predominantly uli (black) composition. This dramatic visual presence is part of its meaning, with ngatu tā'uli considered within the wider Tongan understanding of time and space as relating to the expansive fefine (female) forms of night, moon, darkness and death.
For the members of Kulupu Falenhanga ‘i Teleiloa, the creation of a ngatu tā'uli presents opportunities for artistic expression and the acquisition of cultural knowledge.
