Pacific Presences

Introducing a major 5 year ERC funded project; Pacific Presences, based at the Museum 

of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA), Cambridge.

Pacific Presences investigates the art and history of the Pacific, and Europe's engagement with Oceania, through the rich ethnographic collections found in many European museums.  Whilst a few works have become icons of Oceanic art, extensive collections, formed over the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, remain largely unstudied. Focusing on collections from the Pacific, which are now in museums in Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom, this project will use inter-disciplinary methods to explore a broad range of artworks from the region. Considering the constitutive role of artefacts in Pacific societies whilst addressing the complexity of their cross-cultural histories, the project aims to confront and explore the colonial lives of the collections and consider their significance and salience to twenty-first centuries communities and audiences, in both the Pacific and Europe.

See more on the MAA webiste or follow us on twitter @ppresences to keep up to date on the project and its exciting research.

For more information please contact Ali Clark