International Museum Day was celebrated in Samoa earlier this week under the theme “Museums Uniting a Divided World,” highlighting the important role museums play in bringing communities together, strengthening cultural understanding, and safeguarding heritage for future generations.
As part of the programme marking International Museum Day on 18 May, Galumalemana Steven Percival of the Tiapapata Art Centre presented on the theme “Ia so‘o le fau ma le fau: Community Heritage in Action.” His presentation explored how community-based cultural practice can support the safeguarding of Samoa’s living heritage and how museums, learning spaces, artisans, researchers, schools, and cultural institutions can work together to protect and pass on cultural knowledge central to Samoan identity.
During the occasion, a collection of contemporary heritage objects was gifted to the Museum of Samoa. The collection included a fagufagu decorated with pyrography patterns, a to‘i fafau or hafted stone adze, a pā-alo-atu or composite bonito lure, a vilipā or pump drill, a framed selu la‘au or hardwood comb, an ili la‘au or hardwood fan, and an ipu ‘ele, a wood-fired clay vessel inspired by Samoan Lapita pottery. Also included were traditional tools used in siapo and ‘afa making, unfinished siapo created during the Upu ma Tala Heritage Talanoa Session, small coils of coconut sennit and beach hibiscus cord, candlenut seeds, and the Upu ma Tala booklet documenting the UNESCO-supported heritage project where many of the items were produced.
The gift connects museum collections with living cultural practice. Rather than presenting cultural objects solely as finished artefacts, the collection demonstrates the tools, materials, stories, skills, and processes through which Samoan knowledge is passed down.
At the end of his presentation, Galumalemana highlighted two Samoan concepts connected to the theme: sogasogā, which he described as the “spirit of inquiry,” and mou, referring to practices or objects declining toward disappearance.
“Many of the practices we are reviving at Tiapapata are in decline and some have even become obsolete,” Galumalemana said. “When we lose the practice, we lose language, and when language is lost, we lose a part of our cultural identity.”
He explained that the gifted objects carry stories, relationships, and memories tied to materials and practice. To illustrate the connection between objects, language, architecture, and cultural memory, he shared the proverb “Mapu i sasaga, asu o fa‘a-matua,” which he learned from master builder Lea‘anā Tuigamala Suiselani during the construction of a Samoan faletele at the Little World Museum of Man in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
The proverb refers to architectural features and fire pits once common in Samoan fale. The sasaga is the canoe-shaped cross member on the central posts of a faletele, while asu o fa‘a-matua describes smoke rising from the embers of a fire pit through the night. The proverb is traditionally used in oratory to calm heated debates.
Many of the gifted objects emerged from the Upu ma Tala Heritage Talanoa Series, implemented with UNESCO support through talanoa, experimentation, and collaboration with knowledge holders. The objects now enter the Museum of Samoa as evidence that heritage is not only preserved from the past but can also be renewed in the present.
The presentation reflected long-standing work at Tiapapata in researching, documenting, and supporting the transmission of Samoan cultural knowledge through film, photography, oral history, talanoa, field trips, public engagement, and hands-on practice. The approach emphasises learning by doing, working directly with practitioners, and reconnecting objects with the knowledge systems that give them meaning.
Galumalemana also highlighted how digital technologies are strengthening heritage preservation. High-resolution photography, video documentation, 3D photogrammetry, 3D modelling, and 3D printing are being used to document, study, and share Samoan material culture in ways that support education, research, and global access.
One of the most striking examples is the revival of the fagufagu. In 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson documented hearing a Samoan nose flute played softly before dawn while staying with Mata‘afa Iosefo, who explained it was played “to give good dreams.” More than a century later, artificial intelligence has been used to interpret Stevenson’s written musical notation, allowing modern audiences to hear an approximation of what Stevenson may have heard in Samoa in 1892.
A fagufagu made by Galumalemana is also expected to feature in Museums in the Metaverse, an initiative of the University of Glasgow. The collaboration will help extend Samoan living heritage into virtual museum spaces, making it accessible to global audiences and reinforcing the message that museums today can unite people not only through physical collections but also through shared digital experiences.
The gifted fagufagu represents the revival of one of Samoa’s rare musical instruments, while the pā-alo-atu reflects the engineering and artistry of Samoan fishing traditions. The ipu ‘ele reconnects contemporary makers with Samoa’s ancient ceramic heritage and the wider Lapita tradition. The tools for siapo and ‘afa making, alongside unfinished siapo, cordage samples, and lama seeds, document not only finished cultural forms but also the processes and materials behind them.
The donation supports the Museum of Samoa’s role as a repository of knowledge on Samoan culture, material heritage, and the environment. The presentation stressed that museums are not only places where heritage is preserved, but also spaces where communities can encounter culture as a living force.
“This work does not end with the donation,” Galumalemana said. “When young people see a nose flute, a bonito lure, a stone adze, a pottery vessel, or the tools used to make siapo, they are not only seeing an object. They are seeing ancient knowledge — and a pathway forward into creativity, confidence, and cultural continuity.”
He concluded by saying museums can only help unite the world if people also embrace the diversity that makes cultures distinct — unity in diversity.
Latest posts by Press Release (see all)
Post Views: 251
