Oceania: Across the Pacific

Oceania: Across the Pacific presents a range of artefacts; from Maori personal ornamentation to bark cloth paintings from Samoa, a ceremonial club from Ambrym to a chief’s stool from the Cook Islands. It tells the story of Oceania not through the eyes of European explorers, but through the eyes of its inhabitants.

Alex Tweedy, Curator and Oceanic Art Specialist at Lyon & Turnbull, said:

“The diverse character of this region developed over millennia as a result of a constant wave of exodus and migration, voyage and exploration. As people moved from place to place, one island homeland was left behind for another and different ways of seeing the world developed. Over the span of time this patchwork developed into the immense kaleidoscope that exploded into the western consciousness in the late 18th century and that we can still see today.”

“The pieces selected for Oceania: Across the Pacific all originate from cultures seemingly so diverse from one another, but there is a common thread: all are imbued with a deeper meaning beyond simple form and function. They all tell their own story, and that of the people that created them.”

Featured will be a carved figure from Easter Island - famous for its abandoned moai carvings, the residents of this remote island also carved enigmatic figures in wood, thought to represent ancestors, their exact meaning remains unclear.  

A Maori stone patu (hand axe), likely dating to before the arrival of Captain Cook, will also be exhibited.

Visit our gallery at 182 Bath Street in Glasgow on weekdays from Monday 19th until Friday 30th August to see the range of extraordinary objects from across the Pacific region included in our exhibition. 

EXHIBITION INFORMATION

Oceania: Across the Pacific | Mon 19th to Fri 30th August 2019 | 10am to 5pm weekdays

Lyon & Turnbull Glasgow, 182 Bath St, Glasgow, G2 4HG | 0141 333 1992