Catalogue
Catalogue
Object Type
Name/Title
[Koe Higoa Haaku Hiapo]
Primary Maker
Place
Date
2020?
Physical Description
Language
English
Niuean
Level of Current Record
Bib record
Subject Category
Content
Hiapo 1 / Ko e higoa haaku ko Hiapo
I was born from the hiapo, with bark pale and supple
I was stripped bare, and laid in the salty sea water
Then bundled and taken inland, to the freshwater caves
Rinsed of my salty skin I drew breath
My shape grew as the tutu began to beat
The sound of the ike echoing against the tutua
The women sang to us 'Tutu-hiapo! Tutu-hiapo'
My mother painted me, her hand and mind steady
She adorned me with taro leaves, flowers, vines and
Spirit
She wrote her name on me, and I felt complete
Hiapo 2 / My majesty was displayed and the world took notice
Hiapo 3 / A Palangi man came to me one day, he asked
To take me away
We knew it was time, so I took one last breath
As they folded me up and put me on the Palagi vaka
The darkness was heavy and the journey was quiet
No one spoke to me, I didn't feel like talking
Either
After many days and nights of swaying
I awoke to new sounds, new smells, a new light.
Hiapo 4 / Pale hands touched me and stretched me out.
Pale faces screwed up looking at men, their eyes bulging.
They marveled at me, admired me, said I was rare,
Said I needed to be kept safe.
So the Palagi man put me in a case of glass
My beauty frozen in cold glares.
They said they knew all about me,
And wrote their words beneath my display.
I couldn't understand what they said so I closed
My eyes.
Hiapo 5 / My song was gone, I didn't want to speak any more.
My patterns began to fade, my heart was longing.
They took me down one day, said I didn't look right
I was too quiet, room had to be made.
They folded me up and placed me in a white box.
I cried for me home, for my mother, my people,
I knew I would have to wait.
Hiapo 6 / Much time passed, dust had creviced my body
Hiapo 7 / One day I heard footsteps stop beside me.
I couldn't see the hand that took me from the shelf,
Hiapo 8 / Strange new light peered in
And blue-gloved hands held
me gingerly.
Then I saw another face, not
Pale like the others
but brown and friendly,
familiar, peeping over the pale one.
Hiapo 9 / 'Be very careful' said the
Palagi, but she didn't
know.
The palagi unfolded me
And began to tell the
Brown girl my story.
But she was getting it wrong.
The brown girl said
Something to the Palagi
'I don't know, but I can
Check' said the Palagi as
she left for a moment.
Hiapo 10 / The brown girl slipped off her blue glove
She touched me with her warm brown hand and
Whispered
'Hina-e! Hina-o! Hina' come home hiapo.
Public Access Text
[Keywords: Bark cloth art; Niuean poetry--21st century; Poetry--Oceania--21st century]
Subject Notes
Cora-Allan Wickliffe is a multidisciplinary artist of Maori and Niuean descent, originally from Waitakere, Tamaki Makaurau. She was the recipient of the Pacific Heritage Arts Award category in the 2020 Creative NZ Arts Pasifika Awards, for her hiapo art practice.
Jess Pasisi PhD, of Niue, PΓlagi, NgΓti Pikiao, and Tahitian decent, is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Te Pua WΓnanga ki te Ao, Faculty of MΓori & Indigenous Studies, University of Waikato. Her research field of expertise includes Niue Studies, climate change, and Pacific and Indigenous Studies.
Collection Type
Reserve Collection - Extra Outsize
Last Update
19 Dec 2023
Language Description
English and Niuean
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