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Three generations of siapo craftswomen photo & caption

Faapito Lesatele, Faamuli Salu, Tamasailau Lemuelu with their siapo

Meet three generations of siapo craftswomen in Palauli, Samoa: 48-year-old Faapito Lesatele, 79-year-old Faamuli Salu and 21-year-old Tamasailau Lemuelu. Tamasailau works alongside her two mentors, her mother and grandmother. The family paints siapo cloth with a sharpened pandanus fruit for a brush, and mangrove branch and charcoal for paint. Everything comes from the earth, says grandmother Faamuli Salu.  [photo: Aufa'i Areta Areta / Samoa Observer]