The Pacific Islands are home to many cultures, each with a distinct artistic tradition. Some are noted for producing small objects, but this gallery contains the most monumental works. Let’s focus on the particularly impressive tall posts, called bis poles, displayed here in a row by the windows. Much art from the cultures of this region—known collectively as Oceania—is produced in the context of religious ritual. And the bis poles—or ancestor poles—offer an evocative example.

When a death occurs among the Asmat people of southwestern New Guinea, it is thought to create a dangerous imbalance that must be remedied by the living. The creation of a bis pole is part of a ritual intended to restore order within the community. In secrecy, a group of men carves the pole from a single tree, inverting it so that one of the roots becomes the projection at the top. Each figure on the pole represents a specific person who has died. Once the pole is complete, the men set it up outside their ceremonial house. The community holds a ceremonial feast to honor the deceased and send their spirits on to the world of the ancestors. At the end of the ceremony, the bis pole is returned to a grove of sago palms, an essential food source. There, the pole decays and its supernatural power is believed to seep into the ground, strengthening the palms and ensuring an abundant harvest of sago. The threatening forces of death have been converted to nourish the living.

Let’s turn now to another part of the world, to see a different way of honoring an individual in ceremonial rituals.