Sea of Islands: Exploring Objects, Stories and Memories from Oceania

*Winner of the 2026 Basil Stuart-Stubbs Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Book on British Columbia*

Sea of Islands brings together knowledge holders, scholars, and artists from across the Pacific with Western scholars working with Pacific collections—as well as members of diasporic Oceanic communities—to share the stories and journeys of the objects that comprise Canada’s largest Oceanic collection, housed at The Museum of Anthropology at UBC.

The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia holds some 3,500 objects from Oceania, making it the largest and most diverse collection from this region in Canada. From regalia and jewellery to barkcloths and woven mats to carvings and canoes, all these items have travelled, sometimes circuitously, from their homelands—including Aotearoa, Australia, the Torres Strait Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Rapa Nui, the Marquesas Islands, and Vanuatu—to the west coast of Canada. Sea of Islands traces the journeys and stories of these holdings, as shared by knowledge holders, scholars, and artists from across the Pacific.

Presented alongside more than 250 photographs of individual objects contextualized by historic and contemporary images from Oceanic communities, Carol E. Mayer’s text draws on her decades of research and outreach centred around the complex intersections between museum collections, contemporary art practices, and different knowledge systems. The result is a lively and accessible exploration of how these objects—old and new—continue to articulate systems of meaning and engender new relationships.

Carol E. Mayer is the Research Fellow—Pacific at the University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology. Internationally known for her work as a museum curator, she has published widely on museum-related topics, curated more than forty exhibitions, and received fellowships from the Smithsonian Institution and the Sainsbury Research Unit and numerous awards including from the Canadian Museums Association, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Canada, and the British Columbia Museums Association. She has also received a medal from the Republic of Vanuatu for her cultural contributions, and the Manu Daula Award from the Pacific Arts Association for her outstanding achievement and dedication in the arts of the Pacific.

Ralph Regenvanu is the Minister for Climate Change Adaptation, Energy, Environment, Meteorology, Geohazards and Disaster Management, Republic of Vanuatu.

Susan Rowley is the Director of the Museum of Anthropology at UBC.