This sprawling cultural center had so many different artifacts that we wandered through them for hours. We started out at a gallery that showcased pictures from the 2010 Festival of Pacific Arts. This festival is held every four years and will be in New Caledonia again in 2028. Next to this was a gallery with striking portraits of South Pacific Islanders. Then we were amazed by the next gallery that very large ceremonial objects from all over the South Pacific: Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, New Zealand and Vanuatu. The details on these items was simply amazing. One gallery showed a film that followed the Kanak people building a traditional big house. The next gallery had wooden and stone artworks of contemporary artists. Finally there was a gallery devoted the the design of the cultural center itself
Driving to the center we passed a cruise boat in port for the day
The center blends into the surroundings and the plants that have been sown here
The Kanak are the indigenous peoples of New Caledonia and this sign describes the connection between the people and the plants of the island. A garden is planted with the most important of these plants
Rock man!
These semi circular structures house the different galleries
Talk softly and carry a big stick
A stone sculpture with turtles
This big bull is made of corned beef tins
Manny different brands were represented
Portraits from the Festival of Pacific Arts, this man was from Samoa
From New Caledonia
This man was from Rapi Nui
Nice shell inlay
The Solomon Islands
Girls from Guam and more portraits on the following video
The structures outside
Building a big house for the village
From the center pole to the frame to the thatching was shown i nthe film
Now we know how to build one
The outside structures pay homage to the original big houses
In the hall of big ceremonial works this one depicting a creation myth
This is a Chief man and his buzzard bird
Made from two different types of wood. The bird was carved from the huge buttress roots of the nakatambol tree
From Papua New Guinea this is the watcher, Navinambo
This is the crocodile spirit of the Sepik River
The crocodile pulled the earth out of the water on his back and when he opened his mouth the wind came out
Sticking out his tounge!
Another depiction oa a creatin myth, this one from New Caledonia
The mask to represent the ancestors spirits
With a bird
The spirits can see the world through the eye of the bird
This very large ceramic was in front of a gallery filled with portraits
Spare body parts
No explanation was [provided
A drawing of the outside structures
There were many of them
They were quite tall, taller than these palm trees
Almost as tall at the pine trees
Four of them are shown here but there must be nine of them al least
In this gallery are more modern works
They still are inspired by the old stories
Love the deep red of the wood
Wringing his beard
The bird is connected to the mans hair
And the bird is a headdress to the woman on the other side
A stone gecko and eagle piece
Another creation myth
A bird with a glowing green disc
PNG men
A new piece log on one end and I-Beam on the other
Keep on trucking!
Great woodcut
One of four submissions
Second one
This one had the best representation of the water
It was fun to see how it all came about
Original pencil sketches
The construction process
A scale model of the current museum
The sperm whale tooth is a very important and rare item in many south pacific cultures. The tooth darkens to a golden glow as it ages
It has been 2 years and 222 days since we began our Migration
