‘Océanie’ was originally shown at the Royal Academy, London to mark the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook’s first expedition to the Pacific on the ‘Endeavour’. It celebrates the art of the vast region of Melansia, Micronesia and Polynesia; from New Guinea to Easter Island, Hawaii to New Zealand.

On show is an enormous range of art and artifacts: ornaments, ancestral carvings, masks, canoes, fabrics, ritual figures and representations of gods.

Kavat Mask (New Britain, PNG, 1890 – 1913)

‘Te otanga’ armour (Kiribati, end 19th century)

‘Akua hulu manu’ god image (Hawaiian Islands, late 18th century)

Nguzunguzu canoe prow figure (Solomon Islands, (1929)

‘Ahu ula’ feather cloak (Hawaiian Islands, early 19th century)