In Captain Cook's Footsteps

Who has not wondered what life was like in the Pacific Islands before contact with the outside world? Much of what we see and know of the Pacific islands today is a result of great change since that time of "first contact."

Ki'i Hulu Manu, believed to represent Kükä'ilimoku, made of wicker, bird feathers, dogs' teeth, and mother of pearl - ADVERTISEMENT -

A new exhibition at Hawaii's Honolulu Academy of Arts, which runs from February 23 to May 14, 2006, will offer the viewer a rare glimpse into the past and into life in the Pacific of the 1700s. To lay eyes on the actual objects made by pre-contact Polynesian hands gives us insights and clues into the lives and beliefs of the ancestors of today's islanders.

"Life in the Pacific of the 1700s" presents an extraordinary selection of Pacific objects collected during the voyages of Captain James Cook between 1768 and 1779. This special exhibition represents one of the most comprehensive collections of 18th century cultural objects from the Pacific ever presented in Hawai'i or the Pacific. The collection includes over 350 objects from Aotearoa (New Zealand), Tonga, Tahiti and the Society Islands, the Marquesas, Vanuatu (then New Hebrides), New Caledonia, Hawai'i and the Northwest Coast of America.

Headband with sewn on shell disc with tortoiseshell applications and feather tufts

Most of the intriguing, pre-Western-contact artifacts to be shown at the Academy of Arts--kapa cloth, kavabowls, musical instruments, body adornment, baskets and weapons, among others--have for years been seen only by scientists at the University of Goettingen in Germany, which owns the collection. The Honolulu exhibition will mark the first time in 200 years the objects have been exhibited in a public museum.

Two German naturalists who accompanied Captain Cook on his second voyage were responsible for collecting many of the items, which represent both ritual and daily uses. The first known paintings of the South Pacific by a Westerner, English artist William Hodges was also on that second trip, and four of his oil paintings-the first known Western depictions of the South Pacific-will also be on display.

Mourning Dress (Heva)

It has been more than 200 years since English Captain James Cook (1728-1779) made his three voyages through the Pacific Ocean between 1768 and 1779. He was killed on February 14, 1779, at Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island of Hawai'i during the third and final voyage. Cook was the son of an English farm laborer, who because of his excellent navigational skills, pursued a career in the Royal Navy. He was commissioned by the English Royal Society to lead the research exhibitions. Cook's own notes on the collection as recorded in his journal entries, and the notes of others that accompanied him, provide key insights into how the collection was acquired.

The Honolulu Academy of Arts Director Stephen Little believes that the works in the exhibition are extraordinary for their inherent beauty, craftsmanship, and unique mana (spiritual power). They are significant as well because they were traded with and given as gifts to Cook from the indigenous peoples of the Pacific he encountered.

Feathered Helmet (Mahiole)

Director Stephen Little explains: "We recognize that the legacy of Cook's voyages included great accomplishment as well as disease and death for many cultures throughout the Pacific-a fact Cook himself recognized. The purpose of this exhibition, however, is not to glorify Cook, but on the contrary to celebrate the brilliant cultural and spiritual lives of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific as they existed prior to the first contact with Westerners."

In a world that is still dealing with the aftermath and ongoing realities of colonialism, the Academy hopes that this exhibition will shed new light on life in the Pacific in the 1700s. The event represents a rare opportunity for cross-cultural understanding that may not come to Hawai'i again for many years.