Michael is senior curator for Pacific Arts at the National Gallery of Australia. Previously he held curatorial positions in Pacific (Oceanic) arts at the Saint Louis Art Museum (1999-2008), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1994-1999), and the Northern Territory Museum (1981-1994). In 1992 he gained his PhD in Anthropology (Ritual Art) at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. His fieldwork has taken him to New Ireland, as well as the Western Desert of Australia, West Papua, Pulau Atauro, and many parts of Polynesia including Tonga, Rarotonga, and Tahiti. He estimates that he has handled or photographed around 600,000 art objects from the Pacific region in 135 museums and dozens of private collections. Gunn was president of the international Pacific Arts Association (based in San Francisco and Paris) 2007-2013.