Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Open every day 10am-6pm
(except Christmas Day)
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
The Republic of Kiribati is an island nation of over 32 atolls in Micronesia, in the central Pacific Ocean, with most of its population of over 119,000 living on the island of Tarawa. Contributing to its uniqueness, Kiribati straddles the equator and the 180th meridian, which means it is in all four hemispheres at the same time. The name is pronounced Kiribass, and the name of its people, the I-Kiribati, is pronounced as ee-Kiribass.
As part of Kiribati Language Week 2024, Senior Curator Pacific Histories & Cultures Sean Mallon and Curator Pacific Cultures Emelihter Kihleng talked to Brian Sagala from the Pacific Days team at 531 PI about some of Te Papa’s Kiribati collection.
Rose Namoori-Sinclair is from Tabiteuea Island in Kiribati and has been working as UN Coordination Specialist – Kiribati. Here she answers some questions about the significance of te taetae ni Kiribati (Kiribati language) in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Tony Whincup captured both the enduring and the changing facets of life in his photography over an almost four-decade-long relationship with Kiribati.
Tony Whincup photographed the remote islands of the Pacific nation of Kiribati over four decades, creating extensive photographic documentation of it's people and providing a richly layered portrayal of their culture.
In Kiribati, the most dangerous sea-creatures are worn bravely and proudly, like this warrior's helmet, made from the dried skin of a porcupine fish.
Long and short-hand weapons featuring shark-tooth blades were part of an indigenous armoury in Kiribati. This rere (light, curved knife or short sword) has two rows of shark teeth lining either side of its blade.
Meet Otintaai, a female I-Kiribati climate change warrior made by master weavers Kaetaeta Watson and Louisa Humphry QSM and welcomed as a new acquisition in 2021.
While laptops are an imported product into the Pacific, this case made in Kiribati of local materials utilises indigenous hand-weaving techniques of the Pacific and is, in some ways, reflective of the goals of the PacINET conference; to share knowledge from a range of sources.
Kiribati mouse traps are made from a short modified piece of bamboo, a string of coconut fibre cord and a short stick.
Working in close collaboration with the women at the Te Itoiningaina Catholic Women’s Training Centre. Robin White produced this series of mats made with leaves of the pandanus, when she was living in Kiribati.
View some of the works by I-Kiribati, Fijian artist Chris Charteris on Collections Online.
