Creators, curators, collectors, students, visitors, audiences all have encounters with cultural objects both old and new. The new can be a celebration of the old or it can be a modern interpretation or using modern materials.
In this edition Grace Vele, a/Chief Curator Anthropology at the Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery describes some key projects from her time at the Museum and also her favourite object.
Internationally renowned Oceanic art expert Kevin Conru is interviewed in Belgium by Bill Rathmell in the President’s Corner. Kevin shares his thoughts on how the Oceanic art market is changing and also how his art interests have changed. He has very generously shared with us some photographs of his favourite objects by the highly skilled Hughes Dubois. More images will be available for viewing online.
Post-pandemic, there are reports of the project launch of Hongi’s Hikoi: Tales through Tāonga organised by Māori historian and educator Brent Kerehona Pukepuke-Ahitapu as well as the Marquesan cultural festival Matavaa O Te Fenua Enata 2022 held on the island of Fatu Hiva.
Also included are reviews of the unusual exhibition of Roger Boulay’s Kanak inventory notebooks at the Musée Hèbre in Rochefort, France and the small but perfectly-formed retrospective exhibition of contemporary Zanedth Kes artist Alick Tipoti at the Australian National Maritime Museum.
A great opportunity for encounters is the 2022 OAS Forum being held at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide on 26 & 27 November.
Margaret Cassidy
Image Caption: Matua mask, 19th Century. Collected between 1896 and 1899 by Father Rascher and Richard Parkinson. It arrived at the Herz-Jesu-Mission, MCS Schwesterngemeinschaft, Minster-Hiltrup, Germany, in 1905. Deaccessioned to Manfred Steffmann, Germany, in 1980. 43 ¾ in 111cm
