68
Eyes on the Horizon
Oceania at the Royal Academy, London
FIG. 1 (left): Canoe prow
fi gure, nguzunguzu.
Marovo Lagoon, New
Georgia Archipelago,
Solomon Islands.
Wood, pigment, resin, shell.
H: 16.5 cm.
Collected by Eugen Paravicini, 1929.
Museum der Kulturen, Basel,
inv. Vb 7525. Photo: Derek Li Wan
Po; 2013; all rights reserved.
By Maia Jessop Nuku
It was Arthur C. Clarke who
wondered if we hadn’t perhaps misnamed our
planet by calling it Earth: “How inappropriate,”
he insisted, “to call this planet Earth when it is
quite clearly Ocean.” Occupying almost onethird
of Earth’s surface, the Pacifi c is not only
the largest ocean but the largest single geographical
area on the planet, a vast realm of astonishing
diversity that continues to capture the
imagination. Oceania comprises some 20,000
islands and close to 1,800 different cultures and
language groups that share common ancestry.
ART on view