This site-specific project was inspired the process in which a majority of oceanic objects eventually came to be in the deYoung Museum. In and around the 1870’s Christian missionaries “...saw the elaborate carvings and masks they found in most coastal regions as evidence of the villagers’ extreme backwardness. Carved figures and boards were viewed as idols and the works of Satan. Masks and ceremonies in which they were used demonstrated to the missionaries how much New Guineans needed to be evangelized. For these LMS [London Missionary Society] missionaries, removing traditional art from villages was one of the first steps in making the villagers ready to hear Christian Gospel” (Welsch p.16). By alluding to stained glass, traditionally a Christian didactic tool, I was hoping to create a monument that gave prominence to the object in contrast to the way the early missionaries perceived some of the objects in the collection.

 

(from the Jolika collection, courtesy of Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco)