This online exhibition tracks encounters between the native inhabitants of Oceania, a vast region encompassing Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the tropical islands of the Pacific, and the countries, including Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, the United States, and Japan, which had imposed imperial control over the area by the twentieth century. Users are invited to explore a selection of objects which transcend their functional roles and materials to provide powerful records of the complex encounters between these cultures during the early nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. These objects ultimately emerge as frontier spaces where identity is adaptive, fluid, and interpreted among contesting perceptions of tradition, culture, and authority.

This project was featured in the Frontier Shores exhibition held at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery April 22–September 18, 2016.