by Carolina Gallarini
While objects from Oceania can be viewed in several museums in the United Kingdom including the British Museum in London, the National Museums of Scotland or the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, one of the most interesting English museums holding Oceanic art is the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (SCVKasarA), located at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. The museum is dedicated to Robert James Sainsbury, British grocer and arts patron and his wife, Lisa, who from the 1930s were friends with contemporary artists and collected many objects which in the 1970s were donated to the University of East Anglia and form the basis of the SCVA Collection. Today, it is possible to find a variety of art forms including several hundred paintings, drawings and sculptures from around the world, at the SCVA. A part of the permanent collection is dedicated to the societies of Oceania and displays many objects from Polynesia and Melanesia.
The only object from New Caledonia in the collection catalogue of the SCVA is a Bird-Headed Kanak club. Although New Caledonia was initially an English colony and only later became French, English museum collections in general do not include many objects from this Melanesian archipelago. Today, as New Caledonia is still a French territory after two failed referenda for independence under the Noumea Accord of 1998, it is important to share this art and society of the indigenous people, called Kanak or Kanaky, who continue to seek independence
There are a variety of Kanak clubs and they are commonly found in European museums, especially in France. During the 1800s, their portable size contributed to Kanak clubs becoming a popular souvenir for seafaring travellers visiting these islands. However, Bird-headed clubs have a peculiar aspect, characterized by an upper triangular part, which has a thin tip that occasionally contrasts with a wide “tail” on the other side; it often appears as a protuberance, sometimes called an “eye”, close to the junction with the curved handle.
There are many interpretations as to the utilization of these clubs in Kanak society. Jean Guiart, the well-known anthropologist specialising in Melanesia, in his book Mythologie du masque en Nouvelle-Calédonie (1966) claimed that these clubs were brandished during some ritual dances. In the same book, it is possible to find a drawing previously published by Lambert, which depicts a Kanak person dressed in the Apuema ritual costume while holding a Bird-headed club.
In contrast, Roger Boulay, ex-curator at the Musée National des Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie in Paris, argues in his 2015 monograph on Kanak clubs, Casse-Tête Et Massues Kanak, that the bigger clubs could perform a ritual function in contrast to the smaller ones that would be easier to use in battle. Boulay along with Emmanuel Kasarhérou, curator at the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, also have studied how Kanak objects promote their culture around the world. According to many museum experts, Kanak collections should illustrate contemporary society in New Caledonia. This can be done by analysing the contexts in which these objects were made or by interacting more with communities in New Caledonia including contemporary artists. In this way, museum publics can better understand a culture that is still alive, dynamic and in search of its independence. For this reason, in the 1990s, Kasarhérou called them Objects as Ambassadors of the Kanak culture. This concept was inspired by Octave Togna who was conservator at Musée de la Nouvelle-Calédonie at time. He stated that their objects represent the blood, thought and roots of their fathers and for this reason, these artefacts are important to spread knowledge about Kanak culture around the world. Togna suggested that they may be their ambassadors. In the following years, this was then transformed into a concept by Kasarhérou and it was described as a potential replay to the issue of cultural heritage repatriation. In particular, Kasarhérou and Boulay have described this in their publications about the Kanak: L’Art est une Parole exhibition.
The SCVA’s only Kanak object is a Go Porowa Ra Maru, a club, which is sometimes referred to as a Bird-Headed club. It was acquired and added to the collection in 1984, when Robert Sainsbury bought it from Wayne Heathcote, a dealer in New York, for £2398. Boulay has claimed that the majority of the Kanak clubs was made from lignum vitae wood, which is a heavy wood. However, the club kept in Norwich is light in weight compared to its size. In fact, this club is larger than other similar objects and it is covered with a smooth and brown patina, which makes it appear unusually dark and polished. Moreover, this club has a strong chemical smell. These details suggest that the patina was not applied by the sculptor/s but by a subsequent owner.
The tip has a different patina, much darker, consistent and completely brown – not transparent. On the outermost part of the tip, there is a very small piece of patina that is broken, where the underlying material shows through. This break in the paint does not show the wood, but another type of lighter and denser material. Passing a finger along the triangular shape edge it is possible to notice a small furrow. This suggests that the tip could have broken and been subsequently repaired, using an artificial material, possibly a plastic or composite with the intention of restoration.
Although this Kanak club has been part of the SCVA’s permanent collection for nearly forty years, it is currently kept out of sight in the storage rooms. Considering how rare this type of club is in an English museum and what an excellent example it is of a Kanak Object as Ambassador, this specimen is deserving of a place in the permanent public exhibition. If the whole point of Objects as Ambassadors is to speak to visitors, how can they do so from the storage rooms of a foreign museum? At this time of continuing referenda for independence in New Caledonia, displaying this piece would assist in demonstrating and explaining to the museum public the dynamism of the Kanak population and communicate the current history and contemporary social dynamics in New Caledonia.
Bibliography
Boulay, Roger, 2015. Casse-Tête Et Massues Kanak. Igé, Éditions de L’Étrave.
Boulay, Roger and Kasarhérou, Emmanuel, 2013. Kanak. L’art est une Parole. Paris: Musée du quai Branly.
Guiart, Jean, 1966. Mythologie du masque en Nouvelle-Calédonie, Paris: Société des Océanistes & Musée de l’Homme.
Carolina Gallarini is a PhD student at the University of East Anglia.