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What I’m reading: Daren Kamali

As heritage Pacific advisor for Auckland Libraries, I usually come across historical books, depending on the subject I am usually researching. Readings are primarily around the WA¯ – Waitui Atea: Saltwater Realm hence, This is Not a Grass Skirt is the most recent book I’ve read, based on fibre skirts (liku) and female tattooing (vei qia) in nineteenth century Fiji and published in 2019 by Karen Jacobs, .

This book covers liku made from various island fibres including human hair – an old cultural practice carried out only by women in old Fiji which means only iTaukei women were the dau bati (tattooist) located in a bure shelter by the entrance to the village.

The young girl reaching womanhood receives marks front and back, sometimes around her lips (gusu-qia) and given her first liku which looks like a belt, revealing her vei qia. Men were forbidden to go near the tattoo shelter without the permission of the dau bati.

This book also touches on the story of how iTaukei Siamese twins swam to Samoa with these vei qia tools from Kia Island, and how early missionaries and foreigners treated the people, during the time of museum collectors and exchange in Ovalau, Levuka (first capital of Fiji) in mid-late 1870s.

These ancient practices inform my art project with ulu cavu wigs of Fiji, made from human hair, magimagi (coconut sinnet) and vau (hibiscus stem) last practiced more than two centuries ago. For more insight the book to read is Bringing Back the Forgotten by Ole Maiava and I.

Focus Leisure

en-nz

2022-08-07T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-07T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281934546715505

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