FIJI
ON EXHIBITION
The 26’ double-hulled sailing canoe (drua) newly commissioned for the exhibition. Joji Marau Misaele, head of School of Mechanical Engineering at Fiji National University, led a group of skilled carvers and mat sail makers to build the canoe in Fiji using traditional materials and techniques, without any metal components.
T
he first substantial project on the art of Fiji to be mounted in the United States of America, Fiji: Art & Life in the Pacific features over 280 artworks drawn from major international collections, including the Fiji Museum, British Museum, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Cambridge), the Smithsonian, and distinguished private collections. Currently on view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in Los Angeles, California, the exhibition includes figurative sculpture, ritual kava bowls, breastplates of pearl shell and whale ivory, large-scale barkcloths, small portable temples, weapons, and European watercolours and paintings. The exhibition was organized and curated by Professor Steven Hooper, Dr. Karen Jacobs, and Ms. Katrina Igglesden at the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, England, where it was previously on view. With additional major loans from U.S. collections, the California exhibit has been reformatted for the presentation at LACMA, the largest art museum in the western USA.
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Double Portable Temple (bure kalou), Fiji, early 19th century, coir, wood, reed, and shells, 44 x 25 x 21 in., Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, gift of Joseph Winn Jr., 1835, photo Š Peabody Essex Museum, by Jeffrey Dykes.
Currently on view until July 19th 2020 Resnick Pavilion Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California.
