Overview
European contact influenced everyday carved forms of the Pacific. Each item – bowl or table, box or pillar – marks a step in an ever-evolving art practice.
Pacific peoples adapted customary forms, experimenting for themselves and the European market. They changed or embellished shapes, adding elements to reflect their changing world. New tools and materials facilitated their work. Some jobs, once the task of a select few, became the work of many. Rituals were transformed or lost, though some have since been revived.
Europeans gradually began to adopt these carved forms – not just as exotic souvenirs or artefacts but as symbols of their newfound sense of home in the Pacific.