KANAKart – Ancestral Body

This groundbreaking exhibition links traditional Kanak art and culture to contemporary expressions of Kanak art. Vibrant, dynamic and diverse traditional art works, including dramatic ceremonial masks and sacred objects of great significance from Musée de Nouvelle-Calédonie provide a rare insight into Kanak culture. Some are startling, such as mourners’ masks with human hair, while others are iconic, like the hut architrave or roof-top arrow from Tiouandé. Contemporary Kanak sculpture and paintings from the collection of the Tjibaou Cultural Centre’s Contemporary Kanak and Pacific Art Repository in New Caledonia, are exhibited alongside the heritage items that fuelled their imagination and shaped their identity, demonstrating the continuity of Kanak culture. 

KANAKart – Ancestral Body seeks to illustrate how traditional portrayals of the human body still inspire today’s Kanak artists. The body and its figurative or symbolic portrayals play a major role in Kanak culture. Carvings in huts and customary exchange tokens embody both the ancestors and the social group in bodily and spatial terms. This aspect of Kanak culture is also present in contemporary art. Kanak artwork remains the mediator between the real and invisible worlds and maintains an ongoing dialogue between past and present.

Standing side by side, yesterday’s and today’s Kanak art demonstrates the ancestors’ wealth of knowledge and the variety of art that is now derived from it. As an opportunity to discover a culture and its symbols, the exhibition advances art as a point of contact and, therefore, understanding between Kanak society and the surrounding world.

Selected Artists: Paula Boi, Yvette Bouquet, Dick Bone, Marc Deha, Lacheret Dioposoi, Yolande Moto, Micheline Néporon, André Wassaumié Passa, Jean-Jacques Poiwi, Joseph Kenal Poukiou, Steeve Thomo, Narcisse Wahnyo Teimbouec, Maryline Thydjepach, Bob Upigit, Ito Waia.

Homepage image: Profil Art by Yvette Bouquet

KANAKart – Ancestral Body images