Episode 1: Reimagining Captain Cook: Pacific Perspectives at the British Museum. Discussed by Laura Lennard, Caz Murray & Vikki Kosmalska.

Welcome to series two! We’re back, reviewing a free exhibition at the British Museum: Reimagining Captain Cook: Pacific Perspectives.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/reimagining_captain_cook.aspx 

It’s 250 years since Captain Cook first set sail for the Pacific, but what does his legacy mean to you? Is he a figurehead of enlightenment exploration and progression or an enabler of colonisation and oppression? 

We focus on the British Museum’s display of 14 contemporary artworks by Pacific Island artists, all of which are concerned with Cook and his legacy. These incredible works open up Pacific perspectives and invite us to re-imagine Captain Cook’s legacy, raising questions around ritual, possession, (mis)understanding and what it means to be ‘civilised’.

Works discussed in detail:
Taking Possession: Lono (2017) by Lisa Reihana
https://www.milfordgalleries.co.nz/dunedin/work/18526-Taking-Possession-Lono-30220-31380-34845

Civilised #12 (2008) by Michael Cook
https://ocula.com/art-galleries/this-is-no-fantasy-dianne-tanzer-gallery/artworks/michael-cook/civilised-12/

Cook (1981) by Aloi Pilioko

Cookie in the Cook Islands (2008) by Michel Tuffery
https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=841388001&objectId=3294927&partId=1

In other Art News, Walthamstow Correspondent, Caz Murray introduces Waltham Forrest as the inaugural London Borough of Culture, and Laura ‘Poirot’ Lennard investigates the case of the stollen Michelangelo... 

Thank you to Ataraiti Waretini for her invaluable contributions, Nat Witts for our jingle and to our Editor Jonny Lennard for managing to make sense of our ramblings. 

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