Matakau – Altar (2025)
Synthetic felt on 14oz canvas backed with interfacing, brass-coated grommets, beads, ric-rac trim, fringe trim, African wax print fabric and cowrie shells. Dimensions variable, approximately 37x72cm
A textile altar for a matakau, a carved female ancestor figure featuring tattooed hips, loins and mouth. This particular matakau is from central Viti Levu, and is the “property” of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. An altar is an offering of reverence for a symbol of Indigenous female worlds; visualising matakau in my practice is a form of spiritual repatriation and remembrance.
This work incorporates silhouettes of the leaves and fruit of the Tavola tree (terminalia catappa), after which my father was named. The African wax print is a textile collected from our family’s time in Belgium. It is used here in the shape of a ‘lapita’ pot.
vasemaca tavola 