Archive display: Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa: Our Sea of Islands

Tongan scholar Epeli Hau‘ofa imagined Oceania as a ‘sea of islands’ rather than ‘islands in a far sea’. This display takes a similarly broad view, bringing together archival and published material relating to five Pacific artists featured in the Gallery’s current exhibition, Taimoana | Coastlines: Art from Aotearoa.

Drawing on the collections of the Gallery’s E H McCormick Research Library, the display explores how artists Teaune Tibbo, John Pule, Ioane Ioane, Fatu Feu‘u and Latai Taumoepeau respond to the exhibition’s central theme: the changing relationship between sea and land. Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, the Pacific Ocean, connects these artists, whose homelands include Niue, Sāmoa, Tonga, Fiji, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

The selected articles, exhibition catalogues, exhibition invitations, flyers and programmes, and images reveal connections between the artists while highlighting their unique perspectives. Ancestral knowledge and memories are woven throughout their work, reflecting different experiences of belonging to the Pacific.

The Pacific Ocean also connects communities through shared environmental concerns, including climate change and ocean pollution. Pacific nations are particularly affected by rising sea levels, which threaten land, food sources and communities. In this context, the artists’ work takes on greater significance, reminding us of what could be lost and what needs protecting.