The first substantial project on the art of Fiji to be mounted in the United States, Fiji: Art and Life in the Pacific will feature over 225 artworks drawn from major international collections, including the Fiji Museum, British Museum, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Cambridge), the Smithsonian, and distinguished private collections. The exhibition will include figurative sculpture, ritual kava bowls, breastplates of pearl shell and whale ivory, large-scale bark cloths, small portable temples, weapons, and European watercolors and paintings. Additionally, the museum will feature historic photographs from LACMA’s Blackburn collection, as well as a newly commissioned 26’ double-hull sailing canoe (drua) constructed in Fiji using traditional materials and techniques.
Curator: Nancy Thomas, Senior Deputy Director of Art Administration and Collections, LACMA