This exhibit had artifacts from all over Oceana. Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, the Solomons, Kiribati, Rapa Nui, Hawaii and Tonga just to name a few. All of the items were on loan from the British Museum which makes me wonder how many great items that the museum has out on loan.
First we saw these orrery pieces
Some more complex than others
The interior wall of glass goes all the way to the top
This stature is by the artist Francisco Asorey
Models of the complex
Three flights of escalators
We are in the exhibit
A recent piece made entirely from various plastic water bottles
Plastic art
From New Zealand, this maori has iridescent eyes made form shells
Ceremonial boat paddles
Two of them
From Rapa Nui
The detail on the carving is exquisite
A new piece made from glass
This is a ceremonial pestle from Papua New Guinea and it is a bird of paridise
More superb craftsmanship
The second one
Of three figurines
Simple but effective
This kite is a new piece made to be the companion to an older kite already ion the British Museum collection
At nine inches tall this huge Hei Tiki from New Zealand must have been owned by a very powerful family
A new piece depicting the death of Osama Bin Laden
These Solomon Islanders are in a war canoe heading out to capture slaves and collect some heads
It was three feet long
The details were amazing
Origionally thought of as war clubs but in reality they were mostly ceremonial and had many uses
New shields take on a more modern decoration
This older shiels has faded a bit with age
In Kiribati this set of palm armor protected the back of the neck and other vunurable areas
A puffer fish helmet
How it looked when worn
A more fantastical look
A curved knife
The salt water croc was a local diety
So much was going on with this mask from PNG
The smallest piece in the exhibit is a female deity from Tonga
Showing his age, this is a carving of an ancestor made in Rapa Nui
This is a bird bowl from Palau
This is a lime spatula used in the chewing of betel nut in PNG. It was made by the master carver Mutuaga, one of only a few craftsmen who is known by name
A huge wooden totem originally adorned the door way to a Kanak Chief's house in New Caledonia
So big we could pose in front of it
Part of the exhibit showcases the boats and told the seafaring stories of the peoples
Froggy!
A dolphin from the Solomans
This statue is a Nguzu Nguzu. It was a canoe prow figurehead from the Solomons
He appears to be quite full
A fisherman god from the Cook Islands
Another canoe prow figure head
That is a hand jutting out. It is part of the funerary rites in New Ireland PNG
These were collected in 1883
This huge wooden piece is A'a, from the French Polynesia island of Rurutu
We could see the cathedral out of the windows
Back in the lobby and heading out
