The first substantial project on the art of Fiji to be mounted in the United States, Fiji: Art and Life in the Pacific will feature over 225 artworks drawn from major international collections, including the Fiji Museum, British Museum, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Cambridge), the Smithsonian, and distinguished private collections. The exhibition will include figurative sculpture, ritual kava bowls, breastplates of pearl shell and whale ivory, large-scale barkcloths, small portable temples, weapons, and European watercolors and paintings. Dr. Steven Hooper and his team from the Sainsbury Centre, in Norwich, England assembled a deeply researched and comprehensive exhibition that was recently on view in its galleries and will be reformatted by LACMA to include major loans from U.S. collections. Additionally, the museum will feature historic photographs from LACMA’s Blackburn collection, as well as a newly commissioned 26’ double-hull sailing canoe (drua) constructed in Fiji using traditional materials and techniques.