Angol
Barkcloth or 'tapa' has a history that spans centuries, countries and a multitude of uses: from ceremonial dress in Papua New Guinea and Tahiti to a low-status substitute for woven cloth in Ghana. Its production has been recorded widely from Pacific and central America, Africa, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, Oceania and New Zealand.
The chapters of�Barkcloth�cover the preparation, decoration, and conservation of tapa with particular reference to the material's deterioration and the various approaches applied to control this process. Wide-ranging, practical and precise, this collection of papers should prove to be of considerable help and inspiration to the conservator of this fascinating material.
Papers presented at a one-day seminar organised by the Conservators of Ethnographic Artefacts (CEA) at Torquay Museum in 1997.
