‘Our designs are stolen’: the fight to keep sacred tapa in the hands of PNG’s Oro people

Dorah Misirit, from Tufi, in Oro province, Papua New Guinea, shows the tapa face tattoos she got when she was nine years old. Photograph: Godfree Kaptigau

When Papua New Guinean fashion designer Yaku Ninich wanted to use tapa designs inspired by those of her grandmother, in her work, she first had to ask her mother for permission.

Ninich, who is based in the US, but has roots in both Oro and Morobe provinces says that not everyone respects the connection between these ancient designs and the Oro people.