Marafetu Togakilo Smith (born ) is a

weaver Weaver or Weavers may refer to: Activities * A person who engages in weaving fabric Animals * Various birds of the family Ploceidae * Crevice weaver spider family * Orb-weaver spider family * Weever (or weever-fish) Arts and entertainment ...

and community activist from

Niue Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between Tong ...

. She founded the first Niuean weaving group in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, and her work is held in the collections of

Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Aucklan ...

and

Te Papa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

Career

In 1984, Smith founded the first Niuean weaving group in Auckland, called ''Tufuga Mataponiu a Niue''. She eventually ran several groups for women from separate villages in Niue. Her sister Eseta Patii was also a weaver. Smith is also a dancer and choreographer, working with women's groups. She is also a former co-ordinator of the Niue Village at the

Pasifika Festival The Pasifika Festival is a Pacific Islands-themed festival held annually in Western Springs Reserve, Auckland, New Zealand. Celebrated since 1993, it is the largest festival of its type in the world and attracts over 200,000 visitors every year ...

. In 2000, she attended the

Pacific Arts Festival The Festival of Pacific Arts, Pacific Arts Festival, or FESTPAC is a traveling festival hosted every four years, in the same year as the Summer Olympics, by a different country in Oceania (map). It was conceived by the Pacific Community (former " ...

in Noumea. In 2007, Smith accompanied

Anand Satyanand Sir Anand Satyanand, (born 22 July 1944) is a former lawyer, judge and ombudsman who served as the 19th Governor-General of New Zealand from 2006 to 2011. Satyanand was chair of the Commonwealth Foundation for two 2-year terms, ending in Dece ...

to Niue, where a symposium of Niuean weaving was held. In 2009, she was appointed to Creative New Zealand's Pacific Arts Committee, alongside Frances Hartnell.

Legacy

has one of Smith's designs in its collection. Two woven pieces by her are in the

collection: a basket called a Kato Fuakina and an 'ei (headpiece). Works created by weaving groups that Smith facilitated are held in the collection of the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

Awards

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government, investing in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes and developing markets ...

Senior Pacific Artist Award

References

External links

Tukituki e fua tuitui
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Matafetu Living people 1920s births Niuean women Weavers Community activists Niuean artists Textile artists