Elei Fabric Printing Workshop

Museum of Samoa
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Elei Fabric Printing Workshop
Elei Fabric Printing Workshop

Elei Fabric Printing is a fusion of the traditional decorative methods used to embellish tapa design. With the arrival of missionaries in the 1800’s, Samoans were introduced to European cloth fabric clothing. Samoans embellished and individualised this new style of clothing with traditional elei prints.

Elei Fabric Printing uses the same printing methods used to decorate the tapa cloth. However, the carved printing board is (Upeti) is coated with imported fabric paints. The use of fabric paints has expanded the elei printers’ colour palette. Local artists are not limited to the traditional earthy colours, featured in traditional Samoan Tapa. Elei printers can now produce the bold and bright elei garments we see flashing around Samoa today.

The methods employed to create elei printed fabric has continued to change. The expense of purchasing local hardwoods and carving tools has caused further change in the elei printing process. A lot of Contemporary Samoan craftspeople prefer to recycle old X-rays, to cut printing stencils. This method of printing also produces a bolder and brighter print.

Photograph by Sina Ah Poe taken at a cultural workshop run by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture. The workshops take place to ensure that Samoan craft practices are passed down through the generations.

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Taken on: July 30, 2003
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Camera: Sony CYBERSHOT
Aperture: f/2.4
Exposure Time: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Focal Length: 29.3mm
ISO: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On, Red-eye reduction, Return detected
Exposure Program: Program AE
Exposure Mode: Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Auto
Color Space: sRGB
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