Africa, Oceania and the Americas
Art and material culture from three continents and the Pacific. Masks, textiles, ceramics, and sculpture from sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania, Australia, and the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Autonomous worlds, living lineages, and contested histories.
he ancestral carvings, woven textiles, cast bronzes, and regalia in these galleries originate across three continents and the Pacific. Collected largely during periods of colonial expansion when European institutions catalogued indigenous cultures as ethnography rather than art, the collection represents distinct systems of belief, statecraft, and memory.
A Yoruba beaded crown, an Asmat ancestor pole, a Mayan limestone relief: these works served living ceremonial and political functions within their societies. Today, they remain active reference points for descendant communities, framing ongoing debates over restitution, provenance, and cultural stewardship.
