oceania | Kiribati
Canoe model
Kiribati
Outigger canoe te wa
Kiribati, Micronesia
Carved wood and fiber
19th century
Length: 32 ½ in. (82 cm)
Width: 9 ¾ in. (25 cm)
Kiribati canoe model / Galerie Flak
Price: on request
According to Australian/I-Kiribati writer Marita Davies (Lindsay, 2017), “for thousands of years, Polynesians, Melanesians and Micronesians have journeyed across the vast Pacific allowing them to become master navigators, discoverers and fishermen. For Kiribati—the canoe (or te wa as it’s known in Kiribati) is more than just a boat—it is a significant piece of architecture with a remarkable history. With 33 individual islands making up the nation of Kiribati, te wa is a necessary apparatus to travel, communicate and share supplies between each island. The canoe is part of who the Kiribati people are—it is their culture, their respect for the ocean and their family members all encompassed into one structure.”
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