The exhibition, highlighting the history and culture of Samoan tattooing, will be featured at UMFA through December.
Utah’s Pacific Islander community celebrates the opening of the ‘Tatau’ exhibition at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023, as men dance in the great hall to a packed crowd.The crowd flocked to the upper-level balconies of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts’ great hall, trying to get a glimpse of an ‘ava ceremony — what one speaker called the “highest gesture of respect” in Samoan culture.
UMFA put together a community advisory group, said Emma Ryder, the museum’s director of marketing and communications, to “ensure that the Polynesian, particularly the Samoan, community in Utah is properly represented in the messaging and programming surrounding the exhibition.”— which advocates for Utah’s Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian community — said she started working with a representative from the Japanese American National Museum to bring the exhibit to Utah.
Material from the Pacific has been a “weakness” with the museum, historically and with its current curatorial staff, McCusker said. When Mauga, who moved to Utah when she was 13, got her malu on her legs, she said she was able to do it in a traditional way. She also said she prepared for it for a long time.
The tataus are tapped by hand, using traditional handmade tools called ‘au. The Sulu’ape family has adopted ambassador artists, such as Sulu’ape Si’i Liufau, who has been serving and working with the family since 2008, and was given the title of chief in 2015. He and his work are featured in the exhibition.
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