In November, a story hit the news about one of the most emblematic objects in the British Museum – a sculpted head from Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, made in around 1200. Hoa Hakananai’a, as it is known, meaning “lost or stolen friend”, is a looming and powerful presence. On its back it bears a carving of a winged figure, witness to the complex history of the object – over time the religion of the islanders changed, and they began to honour “birdmen” instead of the great carved ancestor figures.
Later, Hoa Hakananai’a was collected, under circumstances that the British Museum website does not make entirely plain, by Richard Ashmore Powell, commander of the British navy frigate HMS Topaze. It was then given to Queen Victoria, from whom it came to the museum. This autumn, Tarita Alarcón Rapu, the governor of Rapa Nui, made a tearful request for the sculpture’s return. “We are just a body. You, the British people, have our soul,” she said. What was less publicised was the fact that the governor was there at the invitation of the British Museum and that meetings will continue in 2019 in Rapa Nui.
Continue reading...from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Ai9S0Y
