Unusual Materials in Polynesian Art at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii

This sculpture at the Bishop Museum was made out of feathers. It really stood out amongst all of the earth tones that were seen throughout the other pieces. xoxo Prof Lieu

Ka ‘Ula Wena: Oceanic Red
https://www.bishopmuseum.org/kuw/
https://www.instagram.com/bishopmuseum/

This exhibition was curated by Leah Caldeira, Kamalu du Preez, Kapalik Maile, and Marques Hanalei Marzan. Here is what the museum plaque said:

Red-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda) feathers
Pitcairn Island
BBM-4765, Received from H. S. Hayward, 1922

“In 1789, 12 Polynesian women left Tahiti with 9 British mutineers aboard HMS Bounty, arriving on Pitcairn Island early in 1790. Their descendants (who are our ancestors) settled on Norfolk Island in 1856. Our Polynesian heritage lives on through our language, food, and other cultural practices.

One practice that has been sustained through the generations is the collection of treasured red-tail feathers of tropicbirds that grace our cliffs and shorelines. Our foremothers also valued the colour red, highlighted by the occasional inclusion of a bright red feather within the folds of quantities of gifted tapa cloth.

An example is held in a Glasgow museum. These women also produced a beautiful red-brown dye to decorate some of their cloths.”

—Sue Pearson, Pauline Reynolds, Albert Buffett, Meralda Warren, and Anita French, February 2020

This plumed bundle contains the feathers of a tropicbird, both natural and dyed. Though it is not known who gathered and arranged this bundle, in Ka ‘Ula Wena it serves to hold space for the prized feathers of ancestral renown and genealogical connection.

Here is the exhibition statement:

“Ka ‘Ula Wena: Oceanic Red is an original Bishop Museum exhibition that explores manifestations of red in the landscapes, memory, and created expressions of Oceania.

Ka ‘Ula Wena originates in Hawaii, but we reach out to embrace our cousins across the vast Moananuiakea.”