Reggie Meredith Fitiao, a siapo (beaten barkcloth or tapa) maker from American Samoa, created this mask in response to COVID. She featured the centipede—a symbol of resilience, protection, and strength in Samoan culture. The centipede motif can also be seen on a much older and larger siapo in the care of the Peabody Museum.
In Samoa, siapo is a cultural art form dating back thousands of years, passed down from generation to generation. While the introduction of new goods and materials and the pressures of colonialism decreased the demand for traditional forms and designs in Samoa, the practice of siapo-making has endured. In American Samoa, the tradition flourished again in the twentieth century thanks to the work of master siapo maker and cultural advocate Mary Pritchard (1905–1992).
One of her students, Reggie Fitiao Meredith, along with her husband who is also an artist and traditional Samoan tattoo expert Su’a Ulisone Fitiao, has taken Mary’s torch. Reggie has traveled the world studying Pacific tapa collections in museums and holding workshops at home and abroad to raise awareness of and training in the culturally significant art form.
After enduring the COVID pandemic, Reggie was inspired to apply her knowledge of barkcloth production and Samoan designs to new forms, including the ubiquitous face mask.
“I feel that there’s this real energy and healing with the mamanu [mask], the patterns, that have been infused on them,” said Reggie.
A practical endeavor at first, Reggie began to make face masks out of siapo. Infusing them with the power that comes from traditional designs associated with families, spirits, and natural guardians, the masks became more than a physical health barrier—a symbol of resistance and perseverance.
Reggie was inspired by the historic designs and patterns she studied in the historic collections at museums, including the Peabody Museum. One in particular struck an immediate chord with her: a tapa cloth (19-39-70/D1272) acquired by philanthropist and member of one of the country’s oldest families George Peabody Gardner. This piece features a design motif that is rarely seen in siapo after the nineteenth century: the small but mighty centipede, the “long god” called fa’aatualoa. Associated with pain, danger, and suffering, it symbolizes resilience and persevering through hardships.
According to Reggie:
“The fa’aatualoa continues to be a favorite motif for me when designing a siapo mamanu because its presence is profound and the source from which it derives, the centipede, has a strong hold on you if you see one. The pinch of a centipede is so painful, it surpasses the sting of a bee.
The fa’aatualoa is one of the few Samoan motifs that is used across its art forms; in the laei o Samoa or Traditional tattoo, upeti (wooden carved boards used for rubbing), u’a (paper mulberry or fabric), and siapo bark cloth painting. The motif signifies pain, long suffering, and endurance.”
The fa’aatualoa was the perfect design for the mask that Reggie created specifically for the Peabody Museum and donated to the museum after COVID subsided enough to let her visit again.
Reggie has been a friend of the Peabody Museum for many years. In 2020 she recorded an original poem for the Uncovering Pacific Pasts exhibition.