Nakas: Marks of Matriliny

Poised on the Museum’s boundary with Central Park, the series of copper panels—installed on opposite ends of the ceremonial house ceiling—create a “skin” intended to shield and protect the ancestral works on display. Their etched designs relate to motifs stitched into the tuhu (hood) of woven pandanus that the artist received at birth from female relatives on her father’s side. The inscriptions identify her clan and lineage as Nakas. On Buka Island, where Havini was born, land is conceived of as skin, passed down by women and aligned with nurturing principles of life and vitality. Havini’s use of patinated cobalt-blue copper speaks directly to the environmental consequences of the decades of exhaustive mining that have decimated the interior of Buka Island and made the rivers literally run blue. Reflecting on the detrimental effects of disrupting kastom, the customary practices that bind people to their ancestral lands, the artist conceived this site-specific installation to safeguard the cultural treasures held within the Oceania galleries. Land sovereignty and exile, the violence of mining, and the fragility of the environment are critical issues confronted by Taloi Havini in her work.