Pacific artists unite to celebrate grand reopening of The Met’s Oceania Gallery

The prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art has reopened its transformed Arts of Oceania gallery, showcasing new and ancient treasures from across the Pacific region.

Although the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing has been closed since 2021, it features some of the world’s most iconic artefacts from Africa, the ancient Americas, and Oceania.

Raymond Sagapolutele, photographer and visual artist, was among seven Pacific and Māori artists supported by Creative New Zealand who attended the reopening ceremony in New York.

Bad weather disrupted a dawn ceremony, but Sagapolutele felt it was special to witness the event inside the Met’s iconic marble walls.

“As we were moving through to get to the main gallery to the formal room, we had all of these different groups chanting … Hawaiians, we had Māori, and then behind us, the Aboriginals from Australia,” he tells PMN News.

“It was so loud, and it was so good to be able to just walk between all of those voices going at the same time.”

Sagapolutele says he was surprised and grateful for the invitation, adding that it felt like “a chance to be part of history”.

“You've got all of these corridors that lead into classical art rooms, and then we're standing there waiting to proceed, and we've got this gigantic Egyptian sculpture behind us as well.”

Pacific delegations were escorted through the refurbished Oceania gallery at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Photo/Raymond Sagapolutele

Born in Aotearoa, Sagapolutele proudly represents his Sāmoan roots from the villages of Fatuvalu and Saluafata.

“Having the ability to represent [my community] in these sorts of circumstances is important, just knowing that the legacy of what this is, and that somewhere further down the line, it gets built on by others from where I'm from.”

The new collection includes works by Sofia Tekela-Smith, a Scottish and Rotuman artist specialising in jewellery.

A historic relationship

The opening of the new collection marks 40 years since the Te Māori opened at The Met in 1984, marking the first time Māori art was showcased on the world stage with full iwi authority.

In a statement, Parata-Goodall says the ongoing relationship with The Met has its roots in Te Māori. She credits lead curator Dr Maia Nuku (Ngāi Tai) with helping to give “our taonga back their voice”.

“The Met was one of the first international museums to work with Māori to recognise the mana of our artforms. Our art forms speak to our identity … it is significant that our taonga and our people continue to stand on the world stage.”

The dawn ceremony of The Met's Oceania gallery was stymied due to weather. Photo/Raymond Sagapolutele

Sagapolutele says Nuku’s leadership is essential to ensure that indigenous protocols and representation are respected during the exhibition process. “It’s the whole thing that we’ve always fought for, having our stories told by us.”

While not a featured exhibitor, Sagapolutele and other artists presented a glass sculpture as a gift to the Rockefeller family and The Met.

Sagapolutele says the piece, a replica skull named ‘VaiTafe’, is a collaboration with glass artist George Agius.

VaiTafe is a collaboration between Raymond Sagapolutele and glass artist George Agius, gifted to the Rockefeller family and the Metropolitan Museum. Photo/Supplied

“It's the Sāmoan word for river and I created it to resemble river water when light passes through it. The bones of our ancestors, to me are reminders of what we were, what we are and what we eventually become.”

For Sagapolutele, the experience transcends artistic recognition, paving a way for i fafo, those on the outside to learn and appreciate something different.

“It's cool to know that some of my work might actually be here, but it's even better to know that it becomes a marker for more of our people to try and add to it and have that agency to provide where we stand in the world through our stories and through our measina (treasures).”

The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing will officially reopen on 31 May in New York.