Tapa Cloth design - Art on the Cart - Southwark - 31.1.2009

Art on the Cart was an initiative of the Southwark Council Arts Team to make art reach into every corner of the borough. Eight refuse trucks, dustcarts, in UK parlance, had vinyl cladding whose designs were based on artworks with a connection to the Borough of Southwark. In this case cloth from a Pacific island community, if my memory serves me right. One slight problem occurred in that dustcarts usually work the same routes for long periods, so one tended to get the same image driving onto your estate or up your road. It would have been good if they could have rotated the various artworks around the borough. There are another five in this album.
The Southwark Council website used to say the following about the artwork:
"The painted mat was collected in 1796 by Captain James Wilson, a Walworth resident, who sailed on the first missionary trip to Tahiti, Tonga, the Austral Islands and the Marquesas in the South Pacific.

Tapa cloth is produced in distinctive styles for both functional and ceremonial purposes throughout the islands of the South Pacific. It has symbolic meaning and an important cultural role, used at weddings, funerals and royal events.

Tapa is a cloth made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree. As it is beaten with a wooden tool it becomes thinner and increases in size. Pieces are pasted together to form sheets and the surface is then decorated. The decoration often features geometricized plants and fish and coats of arms. Special designs are made to commemorate important events and it is sometimes worn to signify rank.

The image on the cart is of a tapa cloth that is thought to come from the Austral Islands. It is painted on the top surface with either plant extracts or mineral pigments. "

23.9.2013 - I saw one today - I can't remember which one - but some are still around!