Oceanic Art Society
Promoting the understanding and appreciation of Oceanic art.
September 16, 2024, marked the 50th anniversary of Papua New Guinea’s independence from Australian administration. To commemorate this milestone, the National Archives of Australia embarked on multiple projects connecting our collections to PNG communities both in Australia and overseas.
Carved anthropomorphic figures of Pacific Oceania are known by the general term of tiki. Their place in protohistoric architecture was first recorded in the accounts of explorers, scientific observers and missionaries between 1769 and the 1800s, as new belief systems were being superimposed on island cultures.
by Yatha Baram and Nicolas Garnier The large artwork Nawian acquired in June 2025 by the National Gallery of Australia is part of a broad project at the crossroad between …
by Judy Robinson Every voyager harbours a sense of home. In island cultures throughout Polynesia, there exists a spiritual homeland conceptualised as Hawaiki; “to get to the core of a culture, one …
by Stéphane Duckett Historically the world of tribal art collecting all too often has shown a lack of concern over identifying the authors of the works they collect or trade …
by Susan Cochrane As Papua New Guinea approaches its 50th anniversary of Independence on 16 September 2025, it is timely to widen the dialogue between Papua New Guinea's artists and …
by David Ferguson This article introduces a curious 'in the round' portrait carving of a European gentleman with carving conventions consistent to that of the Kiwai area; this novel carving …
This article is an edited version of a talk Ross Bowden gave at the Oceanic Art Society Forum in Melbourne in 2023. The purpose is to raise, very briefly, some of the ‘big picture’ questions about art cross-culturally.
What is tiki? This exotic word conjures vivid and iconic images. In discussing tiki, questions of production, purpose and scale emerge.
by Nicolas Garnier Biographies of Pacific artists usually focus on contemporary artists and artists coming from wealthy Pacific countries, especially Australia. Scholars or museum curators have devoted substantial biographies to …
by Stéphane Duckett Stone artefacts in Oceanic Art are relatively uncommon and almost wholly limited to axe or club heads. It is perhaps not surprising that in the Massim area, …
by Eric Kjellgren In contrast to the rich diversity of sculptural traditions in other areas of Oceania, surveys of Oceanic Art (including Kjellgren 2007 and 2014) often describe Micronesia as …
By Philip Jones ‘Provenance’ is a flexible term. Its meaning and its relevance may shift from one context or another. In the art and artefact market it usually refers to …
by Ross Bowden The documentary Cannibal Tours, by the self-described ‘existential anarchist’ Australian film maker Dennis O’Rourke, has had a significant impact on the anthropological world since it was released almost …
by Ross Bowden The documentary Cannibal Tours, by the self-described ‘existential anarchist’ Australian film maker Dennis O’Rourke (Lutkehaus and O’Rourke 1989:435), has had a significant impact on the anthropological world since …
by Krisztina Turza The Ainu (meaning ‘human’ in their native language) are Japan’s oldest indigenous people, and they have survived and maintained their culture from the Late Palaeolithic period through …
by David Payne The traditional canoes of the Massim region of the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) are colourful, stylish, and sophisticated. These traditional wooden canoes are …
Clémentine Débrosse In 1568, Álvaro de Mendaña y Neira was the first European to visit the Archipelago now known as the Solomon Islands. At the time, Mendaña y Neira was …
by David Ferguson This article describes a remarkable and previously undocumented female ancestral sculpture carved in the round in a fully conceived naturalistic style (Fig.1) which appears most closely related …
By Professor Ian J. McNiven, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Monash Indigenous Studies Centre, Monash University, Melbourne During the nineteenth century Europeans became increasingly aware of …
By John Greenshields of Adelaide, South Australia I took this photo of Joseph Ayodila at the Milne Bay Canoe and Drum Festival on Alotau, Papua New Guinea, in 2014. I …
By Crispin Howarth, Curator, Pacific Arts, National Gallery of Australia Since the mid-1920s, this masterpiece of Oceanic sculpture with its gently twisting elongated torso, oversized hands and stout powerful legs …
by Barry Craig. Continued from OAS OAS Journal Vol.22 No.3. In this issue of the OAS Journal, I provide more details of Harry’s service with the AN&MEF and a sample …
By Dr Erna Lilje, Research Associate For some decades, museums have had to reflect upon and re-imagine what they do and for whom. Museums that hold ethnographic collections have become …
