Textile Details

'Remembering our ancestors', by Teei Marsters. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

In Rarotonga, mothers instruct their daughters in the difficult skill of making tivaevae, the word for quilt in their language. Teei Marsters, at the time of making this one was a 60 years old widow, who learned the skill when she was 15. She sells her work in the local market on Fridays, going home as soon as she has earned enough for a week, as she has much other work to do to keep the household going.

Tivaevae are given as gifts on important occasions, such as twenty-first birthdays or the hair-cutting ceremony of a young man. They are used as bedspreads, which is why they are so large. Her piece for the exhibition "The Art of Survival, International and Irish Quilts" is called Taore Tivaevae. It is made of uniform pieces of different colours with a large tortoise in the middle. It is an example of one of the main types which are made with hexagonal (six-cornered) pieces fastened together with hand-embroidered tapes. Many women use machines today, but Teei does all the work by hand for her traditional motifs.

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