Really delighted at the outcome of the two-day public symposium, which we organised, in collaboration with Beatriz Robledo of the Museo de America in Madrid Spain at the end of last year (3-4 December 2013). The idea of hosting a research workshop was planted during a preliminary visit to the museum in Madrid back in November 2010: Beatriz and her team were so enthusiastic about their Pacific collections they wanted to get more opinions and compare their collections with taonga overseas. Our workshop brought together researchers from the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Spain and New Zealand for two days of discussion in order to raise the profile of the museum’s fantastic Tongan and Tahitian collections and sought to combine recent artefacts-based ethnographic research with the archival expertise of current Spanish scholarship. We had an extremely lively public debate at the end of our two days which highlighted for me the multi-faceted (and, how can I say? somewhat dissonant/distanced) perception of the Pacific, its art and peoples, within Spain today. Polynesia really does seem a million miles away when you’re in the heart of Castile so that exploring the nuances of Polynesian cosmology alongside genealogical and historical legacies in the Pacific today felt particularly onerous. Our panel took up the challenge with gusto and six of us delivered half-hour papers (with UN-style simultaneous translation which was a first for most!) which I hope offered fresh perspectives on specific artefacts within the Spanish collections and focused attention on the living dynamic of Pacific peoples today.

The symposium program.

Day One: We were thrilled to be joined by colleagues at the museum including Carmen Cerezo who was able to share her expertise having worked with the Pacific collections at the museum for many years. Head of Ethnography Beatriz Robledo gave an overview of the history of the Pacific collections in Madrid and Mercedes Amézaga talked us through the wonderful, yet sensitive restoration project she has recently overseen which has meant the Tongan feather headdress or pala tavake, whose recent rediscovery has caused such excitement in Tongan communities, can now be displayed in the permanent galleries. The exuberance and enthusiasm of renowned Spanish scholar Francisco Mellén was tangible as he emphasised the role of the earliest Spanish navigators to the Pacific, highlighting the sheer extent of Spanish enquiry within the region from the16th century onwards. It was wonderful to finish the day’s proceedings with a fresh perspective altogether: friend and colleague Juan Pimentel (CSIC), a historian of Science, focused our imaginations and intellect on the philosophical dimension of Alejandro Malaspina’s extensive expedition to the Pacific during the late 18^th century.

Francisco Mellen delivers his paper. Photo M Nuku.

Day Two: Our own papers focused on Tonga: its artefacts and complex histories beginning with Andrew Mills’ detailed stylistic account of weapons and clubs across the region which conveyed the complexity of interaction across islands and archipelagos. Wonu Veys placed the museum’s recent rediscovery of a thirty metre length of uncut barkcloth acquired by Malaspina into its full historical context. A dual panel focusing on the pala tavake followed with Phyllis Herda presenting a wonderfully nuanced discussion of its resonance in 18^th century Vava’u and Billie Lythberg evaluating the likely provenance of a closely associated feather headdress in Vienna. Billie’s paper brought us right up to date with vivid and striking new works created by Tongan artists including Benjamin Work and Dagmar Dyck in response to the surfacing of the pala tavake at the museum. This set the stage perfectly for Hilary Scothorn who crucially brought us right up to date with a visual feast showcasing art and life in Tonga and its diasporic communities today. Not wanting to leave central Polynesia out of the mix! I finished off the day with a paper addressing the cosmological artistry embedded a set of fantastic 18^th century Tahitian pearlshell artefacts which were likely brought to Madrid on the return of a voyage commissioned by the Spanish crown to establish a Catholic mission on Tahiti during the late 1770s. Delegates then had the opportunity to join conservators in the museum stores to look closely at specific and rare artefacts from Polynesia and assist in their identification. A publication of the papers is planned for 2014 and three of the speakers (Lythberg, Herda and Nuku) will present their papers at the forthcoming Pacific Arts Association Europe (PAA-E) taking place in Cologne on 24-26^th April 2014.

Andy Mills, Wonu Veys and Billie Lythberg. Photo M Nuku.

Travel in Spain is always enhanced by the wealth of fantastic art commissions, which fill the walkways and terminals throughout its network of airports. Sensuous architecture, poetry and murals take the place of advertising and fill the space of transition. We were transfixed by this huge mural on our way out of Barajas International Airport … created by Ecuadorian painter Oswaldo Guayasamín in recognition of indigenous histories on the continent of America, the words of Guatemalan writer and dramatist Mario Monteforte – ‘Y entre los muros blancos junataron las sangres’ – writ large alongside a phrase attributed to Inca warrior Rumiñahui at the head of the Atahualpa army: “les faltará cordel para atarnos’. Upflifting colour and words.

The airport. Photo M Nuku.

Oswaldo Guayasamín mural. Photo M Nuku.

Rumiñahui

Hasta pronto España! we hope to see you again soon.

Maia Nuku