Polynesia

Polynesia (which means "many islands") is one of the three major categories created by Westerners to refer to the islands of the South Pacific.

c. 1200 B.C.E. - present

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After a century in storage, this “Whale Rider” got a visit from his descendants—and received a token of their love.

These giant statues embody the ancients who first voyaged to Rapa Nui. Many were toppled; all lost their coral eyes.

This photograph commemorates a historic royal visit and captures the practice of Fijian gift exchange.

This virtuosic carving represents a creator god. It is one of the finest pieces of Polynesian sculpture in the West.

Islanders grew fruit trees and used the wood to carve figures. This one depicts Ku, the “land snatcher.”

The god of war rules the world outside these sacred spaces, but inside, peace and calm prevail.

Hawaiian nobility donned these “red garments” in ceremonies and battle and later gave them to Europeans as gifts.

This “lost or stolen friend” left Easter Island in 1869. Carved of dense volcanic rock, it towers over the viewer.

This spectacular necklace pairs human hair with a sperm-whale tooth. Chiefs wore it to assert their divine right.

Ignore the Western name—spinning this object opened a channel of communication between ancestral and human realms.

Tuffery’s iconic “tinned bull” addresses contemporary concerns about ecological health and food sovereignty.

This revered chief led the Māori at a time of rapid change in New Zealand. Both attire and tattoo mark his status.

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