Join Maia Nuku, Evelyn A. J. Hall and John A. Friede Curator for Oceanic Art, along with Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director and CEO, and special guests Michael Mel and Arapata Hakiwai, to celebrate the renovation and reopening of the Arts of Oceania galleries in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing.
Learn the stories behind some of the most exceptional works produced by Oceania’s visual artists, from elaborately carved bisj poles of the Asmat region to towering slit drums from Vanuatu. Witness how a millennia-long artmaking tradition was both honored and innovated upon in the works of contemporary Aboriginal artist NoŋgirrŋaMarawili (ca. 1939–2023), and hear how artists from Mariwai village, Papua New Guinea weighed in on the reconfiguration of the panels painted by their fathers for the iconic Kwoma ceremonial ceiling. In this new presentation, viewers and visitors are encouraged to reflect on the relationship between the past and the present, tradition and innovation, and the incredible diversity that exists across the vast network of Oceania.
