L'éclat des ombres

The Radiance of Shadows: Black and White Art of the Solomon Islands will open at the Musée du quai Branly on November 18. Luminosity and iridescence are omnipresent in the maritime environment of the Solomon Islands, a Pacific archipelago of more than 900 islands that harbors vast cultural diversity. The natural contrast of light and dark there is often associated with the “Shadows,” the powerful spirits of the dead. By reproducing the visual effects of their environment in art objects, the living seek to give material expression to the relations they enjoy with these supernatural beings, and through these remarkable objects, the presence of ancestors manifests itself to help men achieve success in their enterprises, whether building a house for the chief or a canoe to sail the seas. Objects relating to headhunting, fishing, harvest, initiation, marriage, funerary rites, and so on are all rooted in this aesthetic.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Images courtesy of the Musée du Quai Branly