oignant carving depicts a Maori version of the Virgin Mary and child. Mary stands upon a severed head and has a full-face moku, which in Maori culture is an adornment reserved for the first-born daughter of noble families, indicating her as sacred, taboo to the rest of the community. This may have been the artist’s way of showing Mary as worthy of respect, whilst the baby Jesus has distinctly Maori physical features, a powerful representation of Maori culture embracing Christianity on familiar terms.

One important relic survived the missionaries – Taaroa (later named A’a following the arrival of John Williams and the missionaries – arguably the greatest of all Polynesian works, made hundreds of years ago on the island of Rurutu, in the shape of A’a, the creator god of the rivers. It was revered by locals, but they gave it away to the missionaries in the 19th century as proof that they had converted their beliefs, before being taken to London by the London Missionary Society and displayed as a trophy. A’a was recognised as a masterpiece of global art. Picasso kept a cast of it in his studio, as did the sculptor Henry Moore. A’a is still very important in Polynesian culture, and its absence is strongly felt. Its design is replicated in some body tattoos in homage to traditional worship. A’a is extremely important in the study of Pacific colonialism as it provides an example of Pacific culture having an impact on ‘civilised’ nations, its artists distinguishing themselves against their ‘Enlightened’ European counterparts. Eventually however, even the art was influenced by colonists. According to the influential Polynesian artist Angela Tiatia, the projection of European myths still haunts Polynesia, particularly that of the Polynesian woman. Women play a key part of the notion of tropical paradise, a myth stemming from the earliest sailors’ encounters with locals, that one could visit paradise and be presented with beautiful women. Only in the 21st century is the Pacific beginning to push back against this myth through art and poetry, and in places legislation. (2) From the time of Cook’s first voyages, Polynesia has been reduced to Western ideals: an escape from social and ethical conventions. Although we are now well into the 21st century, the West’s fantasy of paradise as envisioned by 17th and 18th century artists, has never been stronger.

The Dreamtime, in contrast to other Pacific religions, is a spiritual belief system based on artw