Kyani Utia

I never grew up with the privilege of watching my grandmother make traditional tivaevae.

Tivaevae Te Va’ine (translates to Women of Tivaevae) documents the stories and experiences of the women within my family who make traditional  Cook Island tivaevae. As told by the perspective of my mother, ‘Tivaevae Te Va’ine’ acknowledges the women who make Tivaevae, as if we are shining a spotlight on them. An action that as not been done very much before. Women have made Tivaevae for centuries, and it has become a unique and distinct part of the Cook Island identity, especially for women. The artistic practice of Tivaevae and its creative process could help inspire our future cook island creatives with a focus on our young women. This book acts as a foundation for something that could be. It brings about a sense of belonging in an industry with very little representation of our Cook Island people, especially females.

Being born in Australia, I wasn’t always surrounded by my Cook Island or Samoan culture. Traditional cultural living was not the norm for me. Our native language was never spoken, we never practised our cultural customs, and I was never surrounded by grandparents and extended family. It was only till I moved to Aotearoa that I found that this is what I had missed out on.

My mother has always told me stories about our family ‘back home and the different life she lived here in Aotearoa. In the Cook Island culture, you are always surrounded by family. Grandparents are everywhere, cousins are everywhere, and family are everywhere. The sense of community is at the heart of the culture. I was raised by a single mother and from a young age, admired her resilience and hard work. The women within my own family are some of the most hard-working people, they were providers for the family. My grandmother was a business owner who, today, would have the title of entrepreneur. My grandmother, aunties and great-aunties were highly skilled seamstresses from a very young age. The women in my family have always made tivaevae. Women sat around the large amounts of fabric, and talked, laughed, and listened to their music.

This is the atmosphere that I never got to see and only heard about it through the stories my mother tells. My mother is currently making a tivaevae for me, as a gift for my 21st birthday. This is significant as it has been produced with leftover pieces of my grandmother’s unfinished tivaevae.

This project acts as a way to highlight the hard-working, resilient, and creatively skilled women within my own family, with Tivaevae as the common denominator. I believe that it is through this that we can inspire young female Cook Island creatives, offering a sense of familiarity and belonging where they go, “hey, those are my people!”

Tivaevae Te Va’ine (translates to Women of Tivaevae) documents the stories and experiences of the women within my family who make traditional  Cook Island tivaevae. As told by the perspective of my mother, ‘Tivaevae Te Va’ine’ acknowledges the women who make Tivaevae, as if we are shining a spotlight on them. An action that has not been done very much before. Women have made Tivaevae for centuries, and it has become a unique and distinct part of the Cook Island identity, especially for women. The artistic practice of Tivaevae and its creative process could help inspire our future cook island creatives with a focus on our young women. This book acts as a foundation for something that could be. It brings about a sense of belonging in an industry with very little representation of our Cook Island people, especially females.