“The ancestors, in a sense, are of the human world, watch over human activities, but are also connected with the larger workings of the cosmos.”
Curator Eric Kjellgren on a mid-1900s towering slit gong from northern Vanuatu.
Playing from Memory
Eric Kjellgren
2 min. watch
Contributors
Eric Kjellgren
Evelyn A. J. Hall and John A. Friede Associate Curator for Oceanic Art, Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
Evelyn A. J. Hall and John A. Friede Associate Curator for Oceanic Art, Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
Photography by Oi-Cheong Lee
Field recording courtesy of Eric Kjellgren, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Photographs and field recording courtesy of Eric Kjellgren, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Art Mentioned
Tin Mweleun
mid- to late 1960s
More from The Met
This small plaque of Mark the Evangelist, represented by a lion holding a book between its wings, stands for many stories that illustrate facets of medieval Christian faith.
Guadalupe Nettel
October 8
An encounter with an ancient devotional figure reminds us that images can stand in for people.
Adam Eaker
October 6
A roundtable discussion explores gender presentation, the history of fashion, and mockery in medieval depictions of Saint Jerome.
Nancy Thebaut, Jesse Darling, Ayla Lepine, and Clovis Maillet
March 24
More in:Religion and Spirituality