Spirits and Headhunters: Art of the Pacific Islands

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• Michael Bowers
• Chris Rainier

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Remove yourself for a minute from the stifling minutiae of modern American civilization. Close your eyes and reach out to a more primal humanity—which happens to be a few hundred miles west of California. Bowers Museum’s newest exhibit, “Spirits and Headhunters: Art of the Pacific Islands,” brings to life the artistic rituals and rich traditions of myriad cultures of the Pacific Islands—Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. “These treasures define us as a species,” says Chris Rainier, a seasoned photographer who documented the Pacific’s indigenous tribes. “Each artifact serves as an act of daily survival: birth, marriage, warfare, life, death, payback compensation and daily food supply. The presence of these objects is overwhelming.” This exhibit boasts more than 150 unique pieces, including masks, tools of the shaman, weapons and currency.
Tuesdays-Sundays, 1 p.m., 2010