by Margaret Cassidy
Thirty attendees of the Oceanic Art Society Forum 2023 had the good fortune to join one of three small group tours of the stored Oceanic collections housed in the storage facility of Museum Victoria. Leading these tours were Shannon Faulkhead, Head First Peoples Research and Collections; Collections Manager Penny Ikinger; Nancy Ladas, Manager, First Peoples Collections; Collections Coordinator Sione Napi Francis; Caine Muir, Collection Manager; and Rob McWilliams, Collection Manager.
The consensus amongst many in the group was that the highlight was seeing a very large Torres Straits turtle shell mask, some describing it as a “masterpiece”.
Other tour members also rated the warup (drum) from the Torres Strait, which was in a crate opened especially for this viewing. This hourglass shaped drum with a tiny waist and the open end shaped like a large gaping burramundi has the most exquisite emblematic design of embedded lime etched on its surface, adorned with feathers and seeds. It was acquired by the Museum in 1885.
Another object that caught the visitors’ attention was a very early Fijian female figure, lying on a bed of white packing sheets. It has been exhibited as part of the brilliant Atua exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra in 2014 and an image was published in Atua exhibition catalogue.
There were a couple of truly outstanding Malangan masks from New Ireland as well as a great friction drum, Liviat.
Among the Solomon island pieces was a drawful of particularly exquisitely worked fine kapkap and combs.
