CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Unbekannt
1887 - 1919
About the object
The Sāmoan woman in this photograph is wearing an ‘ulafala and has a patterned cotton ‘ie lavalava tied around her waist. Her torso is uncovered and her hair cut short to indicate that she is married. The photograph appears to have been taken in John Davis’ studio in Matafele, Apia.
Author: Charlotte Klinge, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Charlotte Klinge, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
It is likely that this woman is Lauaki Namulau’ulu Mamoe’s daughter. Lauaki, a prominent tulafale from Savai’i, was the original founder of the Mau a Pule, a peaceful resistance movement against colonial occupation in Sāmoa in the early 1900s. He was exiled to Saipan in 1909 by German governor Wilhelm Solf and died while returning to Sāmoa in 1915. However, the movement grew in the 1920s and adopted the slogan Sāmoa mo Sāmoa, Sāmoans for the Sāmoans to reflect the struggle for self-determination and autonomy.
Author: Charlotte Klinge, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Charlotte Klinge, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
References
- Robert MacKenzie Watson: History of Sāmoa. 2021.