Pacific Encounters

Readers of this blog know that one of my projects while at Royal Museums Greenwich was co-curating a new Pacific gallery. I was lucky enough to go on a trip to parts of the Pacific last year, which I reflected on in a post.

On Thursday, the new Pacific Encounters gallery - and three others in the same new wing - opened to the public, and I could not be more proud. I've never worked on a project before where I've left before installation, and I was surprised how overwhelming I found it to see the gallery fully formed, when I'd last seen it on paper.

I spent some proper time on Saturday looking around and enjoying all of the details that I'd forgotten. I tweeted a series of my favourite things, so thought that might be the best way to share them with my readers, and commemorate the moment on this blog.

I had a proper look around the #PacificEncounters gallery of @RMGreenwich #NewGalleries on my own this afternoon and have remembered all the little bits that I’m proud of (warning a series of proud tweets will follow) pic.twitter.com/A2vx04xUDu

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018

The might of Polynesian navigation is visible as soon as you enter the gallery #PacificEncounters #NewGalleries pic.twitter.com/ufQIGI17BE

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018

The #Endeavour model has been brought so brilliantly to life, with a sense of how many people and things a voyage relied on #PacificEncounters #NewGalleries pic.twitter.com/8dctSgreMq

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018

#Tupaia has been given his due in the gallery and a visual presence through creating a portrait with the help of Lyall Hakaraia #PacificEncounters #NewGalleries pic.twitter.com/jUEm32JzK7

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018

An instrument is here with its box, to encourage people to think about how carefully precision instruments had to be moved across the bumpy seas #PacificEncounters #NewGalleries pic.twitter.com/0g7d4OuXom

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018

The @RMGreenwich’s two portraits of Cook are side by side to get us thinking about how representation shapes our ‘heroes’ #PacificEncounters #NewGalleries pic.twitter.com/bHD9UslcPM

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018

A range of representations and responses to Cook’s death are here, showing the ongoing conflicted legacy #PacificEncounters #NewGalleries pic.twitter.com/S18YQIQLXr

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018

The wonderful ‘Captain Cook was a Pirate’ project by the SaVAge K’lub opens questions about what Pacific objects are in museums and why #PacificEncounters #NewGalleries pic.twitter.com/hjoQXIFoBB

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018

Wonderful objects from the London Missionary Society collection are given their due, and allow discussion of the painful and positive legacies of mission #PacificEncounters #NewGalleries pic.twitter.com/URFoITrp4I

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018

Paintings from the circumnavigation of Australia under Westall show how images shaped a colonial view of the Pacific #PacificEncounters #NewGalleries pic.twitter.com/dlBl69rciN

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018

Discussion of tattooing includes a portrait of Pearl Schultz Wiremu, which came out of conversations at Ngati Ranana, and shows her proud joint heritage #PacificEncounters #NewGalleries pic.twitter.com/DaqWnhUaD6

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018

The drua Adi Yeta has such wonderful presence bursting into the gallery #PacificEncounters #NewGalleries pic.twitter.com/uLLcGhNPgK

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018

A few pictures from my and @sacha_coward’s #KSEndeavours trip are part of the digital collage showing what the Pacific means to people today #PacificEncounters #NewGalleries pic.twitter.com/gHWOEjse7T

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018

Ngati Rangiiwaho’s superb rich installation, full of taonga, fills the bookcases at one end of the gallery #PacificEncounters #NewGalleries pic.twitter.com/uapX9VjWYm

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018

The credits panel is testament to how many experts from all communities gave time to help make the gallery #PacificEncounters #NewGalleries pic.twitter.com/xqra8fryGQ

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018

The best thing about my visit was when I was standing by the part on Pacific navigators and a fellow visitor started telling me about his Tongan heritage, his navigator ancestors, and his work with traditional Tongan imagery in contemporary design #PacificEncounters #NewGalleries pic.twitter.com/nsxicH1G9K

— Dr Katy Barrett (@SpoonsOnTrays) September 22, 2018