Ie'toga/Fala

The Fala/Ie'toga is usually the costume the dancer (Taualuga) usually uses when she does the siva. 

I have been looking at how the costume or mat is made. 

The difference between a ie'toga and a fala?

The Ie'toga is the Samoan term for a fine mat. Fine mats in the Samoan culture are considered more valuable than money. An I'e toga is used in special occasions. These occasions include weddings, funerals, building of new houses, church events, tattooing and appointing a new chief village. 

The I'e Toga was originated from Tonga. The I'e toga was originally brought to Samoa by a Tongan lady named Fuka. Fuka's older sister, Lautiovogia was married to King Fonoti who was at the time King Of Samoa. During Fuka's visit to Samoa, she gave her sister an Ie'Toga as a gift. Since that day they have used the name I'e, meaning cloth or mat and Toga, meaning the country Tonga. 

Fala Mats are made from laufala which is the leaves of the Pandanus tree. They are usually mats made for sleeping,sitting or carpet. Regular mats are woven with inch-wide strips of dried leaves and they vary in size tend to be about 4 feet wide by about 8 feet long. 

Ie'toga Mat

Fala Mat

Which mat does the Taupo use?

The Taupo usually wears a dress made from fine mats at occasions like ava cermonies and fiafias.

The Ie'toga are woven with much thinner strips, which are used for formal purposes like the Taualauga dance.   

Background

The value of an ie'toga is defined from the knowledge, skill, patience and love that go into the process of making the fine mat. Some mats can take up to a year to complete. In the past almost every village had a designated spot (Fale Lalaga) where women would gather to make the mats. These women would teach their children the art of making fine mats. 

An ie'toga is never used as sitting mats. They are valued because of the quality of the weave and the softness and shine of the material. 

Just a video of a Samoan woman who is in the process of creating a fine mat.

Artists Research

 I've been looking at abstract movement photography and came across an artists called Kristin Smith. Kristin Smith is an interdisciplinary artist. Smith investigates the complex constellation of relationships between mind, body, experience and consciousness.










Kristin comes from a diverse artistic background with training in classical and physical theatre, visual art, and movement. Smith has worked in Masion, Wisconsin, Calgary, Alberta, Canada and San Francisco, California. Kristin Smith earned her MFA in Mixed Media from the university of calgary, and earned her BA in bother Theatre Arts and Art  from the university of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

 

 I really like the look of the abstract movement in these photographs. It creates a different feel to the photographs. Instead of freezing the movement of the dancer we can now use a long shutter speed to create an image from the bodies itself. I like the technique of capturing the bodies move. I really want to look into experimenting this.

Experimentation

This was a few experimentations I worked on with movement. Playing with barbaras movement in her hands and just laying photographs on each other and playing with the opacity tool. I really want to keep working at this. Try different backgrounds and movement in my next experimentation.

Taualuga: Documentary

This is a documentary about the dance Taualuga in both Samoan and Tongan culture and what it means to women. It shows appreciation for the dance and how much of a privilege it is to do it. I want to look into the movement that the dancer carries with them. I want to study the way the dancer moves with the taualuga because each female has their different styles of performing the dance.

Reading on the dance taualuga

This was a reading I found online where somebody used the Taualuga Dance to describe spacial design for architect.  

http://unitec.researchbank.ac.nz/handle/10652/1835

Raymond Sagapolutele

Raymond Sagapolutele

Raymond Sagapolutele is from the area of Manurewa, South Auckland. The photographer refers to himself as a "brotographer" as he used to be known for saying 'bro' all the time. Raymond use this term to describe himself. I really like his work because he takes a raw approach to his work he mainly captures public spaces. 

He started off taking photographs of landscape and realised that every photographer seemed to be also doing that. So he looked for subjects that would separate his work from everyone else. 

The artist really appreciates photographing places that wouldn't be considered photographic. Raymond seems to shoot a lot during the night when the places become empty. 

Raymond Tumblr

http://rimonitmd.tumblr.com/

Photograph by Raymond Sagapolutele

I really like the way the light falls from the top and the light focuses on the face. I want to try and practice with this sort of lighting in my photographs or moving image.  

This is some work off Raymonds instagram. Taken by an artist named Linda Lepou. I really like the way the light falls from above and drops on to the red silk dress.  

Experimentation with Premier

This was an experiment I did. I worked with video layers on Premier. I wanted to get comfortable with using the tools for our moving image and to see what It would look like and what I need to work on next time trying to use it.