Maori — Leurs trésors ont une âme — Musée du quai Branly — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: October 4, 2011 → January 22, 2012

The musée du quai Branly presents Māori: Their treasures have a soul, featuring Māori culture through 250 pieces from the collections of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. This exhibition, never shown before outside New Zealand, is a testimony to a strong and living culture. It affirms a people’s will to master their own future by emphasising tino rangatiratanga: Māori selfdetermination and control over things Māori.

The exhibition presents a great range of artwork, including sculpture, adornment, daily and sacred objects, architectural elements, photographs, audiovisual documents, and so on. It highlights the links between taonga (ancestral Māori treasures) and contemporary art, shedding light on important issues and debates for Māori today.

The exhibition presents Māori culture as seen by Māori, free from Western views and biases. The heart of the exhibition features art that addresses the political, spiritual, and aesthetic developments that have shaped Māori culture.

Contemporary Māori art

Art from many Māori artists appears throughout the exhibition to support the ideas explored. The artworks explore Māori culture (photographs of tiki by Fiona Pardington), Māori iconography (Reuben Paterson), land (Natalie Robertson), and the current struggles of Māori (Brett Graham).

Darryn George, Matapihi, 2006 © Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa