Barkcloth

In much of Polynesia, women create and adorn bark cloth for use as clothing—including wrappers and shawls. Called siapo in Samoa and generally referred to as tapa across Polynesia, people also use bark cloth as bed and floor coverings, room dividers, offerings, and in formal gift exchanges. However, we do not know how this particular bark cloth was used. It is designed in a square grid pattern with repeating geometric forms inside each square grid, with some of the siapo cloth patterns attributed to names. In Polynesia, bark cloth is produced from the bark of a tree, with some designs associated with specific island groups and some techniques shared across Polynesian islands or reflecting interactions between different Polynesian cultures and places.

Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

Request this image
The Eskenazi Museum of Art provides images of its collection, free of charge, upon request.
This artwork is under copyright protection. You can request the image and it will be emailed to you when the request is complete.

Cite this page
"Barkcloth | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=73.83.10