Sea of Islands

Sea of Islands brings together knowledge holders, scholars, and artists from across the Pacific with Western scholars working with Pacific collectionsas well as members of diasporic Oceanic communitiesto share the stories and journeys of the objects that comprise Canadas largest Oceanic collection, housed at The Museum of Anthropology at UBC. The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia holds some 3,500 objects from Oceania, making it the largest and most diverse collection from this region in Canada. From regalia and jewellery to barkcloths and woven mats to carvings and canoes, all these items have travelled, sometimes circuitously, from their homelandsincluding Aotearoa, Australia, the Torres Strait Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Rapa Nui, the Marquesas Islands, and Vanuatuto the west coast of Canada. Sea of Islands traces the journeys and stories of these holdings, as shared by knowledge holders, scholars, and artists from across the Pacific. Presented alongside more than 250 photographs of individual objects contextualized by historic and contemporary images from Oceanic communities, Carol E. Mayers text draws on her decades of research and outreach centred around the complex intersections between museum collections, contemporary art practices, and different knowledge systems. The result is a lively and accessible exploration of how these objectsold and newcontinue to articulate systems of meaning and engender new relationships.