KATERINA TEAIWA (NARRATOR): Kam na mauri and Ni sa bula vinaka.

Hello. To help us interpret the artworks of Oceania assembled here, we’ve reached out to scholars, makers, and knowledge holders from the cultures that created these works of art.

SIMON MARO NOWEP (English translation): As a child I often played with this carving, so when I see it now, I am moved.

UNCLE BRENDAN KENNEDY: To say well, we’re still here, and we’re still strong, always have been, always will be.

KATERINA TEAIWA: They’ll share stories, poetry… and song.

EMELIHTER KIHLENG: Here I am a relic, banana fiber and red wool.

[Clip of Moromata’s song]

KATERINA TEAIWA: Encounter objects that allow us to navigate through time, space, and all existence…

MAIA NUKU: So you see this idea that life and death are inextricably linked. Without death, there is no life.

AUNTY SANA BALAI: In our culture, we have this saying that the present looks to the past to see the future.

KATERINA TEAIWA: I’m Katerina Teaiwa, a Banaban, Tabiteuean, or i-Kiribati, and African American scholar and artist born and raised in Fiji. I live on the lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples of Australia. Join me as we listen to stories of identity and power in the art forms and knowledges of the Pacific.

This audio guide is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

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Interview with Simon Maro Nowep recorded by Dr. Daniel von Rüdiger.