An interview with curators Tom Mosby and Brian Robinson
ILAN PASIN is Australia 's first exhibition to survey the history of Torres Strait Islander art practices. Through the tenacity and careful adaptation alluded to in the exhibition's title, which translates as 'This is Our Way', Torres Strait Islander culture has retained its unique identity and has remained distinct from Aboriginal culture.
Over the last century Islander life has sustained many forces of change including, most significantly, the impact of colonisation and Christianity. While the thrust of colonialism in the Straits steered towards subduing the independent spirit of the islanders, the missionaries sought a change in the way Islanders expressed their culture. Production of traditional ritual objects was suppressed or prohibited and many traditional objects were destroyed.
Following this intrusion by Christian evangelists, further objects of Torres Strait Island material culture were amassed for scientific scrutiny by the English anthropologist Dr Alfred Cart Haddon, on behalf of Cambridge University. Haddon believed he had embarked upon his expedition 'just in time to record the memory of a vanished post•. I His valuable collection of artefacts is still described as being 'among the most complete and fully documented of any make among native peoples in any part of the world'2 This collection is now the basis for a major exhibition being held at the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and titled Torres Strait Islanders: An exhibition to mark the Centenary of the 1898 Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Strait.
Ilan Pasin: Torres Strait Art is divided into three categories. The first represents Torres Strait culture prior to white settlement in Australia. The second category... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline