New Installations + Displays
Trouble in Paradise: Climate Change in the Pacific
Across the Pacific Ocean—Te Moana, Vāsaloa, na Wasawasa, Wansolwara, Te Moana nui a Kiwa—the tides are shifting. Rising seas swallow homes, storms strike with new force, yet mangroves still root deep, holding against the waves.
Trouble in Paradise: Climate Change in the Pacific brings together photographs by Pacific Islanders of all ages, capturing everyday moments of beauty, resilience, and change. Displayed alongside historical objects and belongings in MOA’s Multiversity Galleries, these images spark dialogue between the deep cultural ties that have shaped Pacific life for millennia and the urgent transformations of today. As the landscapes that shaped these collections change, how do we reflect on the communities whose lives, histories, and futures remain bound to them?
Developed from a British Council touring and online exhibition, this intervention features photographs from a UK Government competition inviting Pacific Islanders to document life in a changing environment.
On display August 2025 – August 2026 | Multiversity Galleries
Curator: Mitiana Arbon
Design team: Cody Rocko, Pavneet Pal Singh
French translators: Marie-Claude Fortin, Mauhiga Ikauno
In partnership with British Council New Zealand and the Pacific, British High Commission Wellington (New Zealand) and UBC Pacific Island Research Network
Photo credit: Maxim Va’a, Samoa. Copyright British High Commission.
Atlanthos: Youth-Driven Innovation Through Afrofuturistic Storytelling
In 2024, Ethọ́s Lab and Museum of Anthropology launched a new display called Atlanthos: Youth-Driven Innovation Through Afrofuturistic Storytelling. This world-building project, which features a fictional high-tech underwater realm, was driven by the creative minds of eleven teenagers who learned to ground their storytelling in African culture and history.
Ethọ́s Lab is a Black-led nonprofit innovation academy for youth in grades 5 to 12 based in Vancouver. Ethọ́s Lab delivers culturally grounded STEAM learning opportunities, informed by African histories and Black diasporic traditions creating connections to post-secondary and careers.
On display in the Multiversity Galleries (Case #99)