Navigation chart
Marshall Islands, Micronesia. 19th to early 20th century C.E. Wood and fiber
Slopped lines that indicate wave swell show technological advancement in society, intricate weaving
Completely identify:
Navigation Chart(s)
Unknown artist(s): Marshallese navigators (ri-metos)
Marshall Islands, Micronesia
19th to 20th century C.E.
Wood and fiber
Pacific art
British Museum (no collection: not on display)
67.5 x 99 x 3 cm
Number 221
Content:
Wood frame, random lines (diagonal, horizontal, and vertical), shells that seem randomly placed.
Form:
Lines represent movement (of ocean and people navigating), scale (small shells), asymmetrical, smooth shells, possibly rough sticks.
Style: Abstract
Context:
Found by admiral EHM in 1890-1893, sailors, small islands = drive to explore and navigate, vessels = quick and low so you can see low islands and not visible from more than a certain distance.
Function:
Used as navigation, charts marked location of islands/swells/wave patterns. pneumonic because you leave the navigation chart at home, look at horizon to memorize, souvenir.
Meaning:
Shells = island placement, read/interpret in order to navigate, straight support it and sometimes current, curved = swells.
Themes:
Natural world, navigation, memory device.
Related work of course: Swimming Reindeer (realizing the natural world), Terra Cota Fragment (Lapita, same people).
Formal analysis (elements and principles):
Composed of wooden sticks bound to palm leaves and connected by shells representing the Marshall Islands
Art-Making process (materials\technique):
Assortment of wood, fibers, and shells
Arranged to show and indicate various regional Marshallese geographic locations such as coral atolls
Content:
Chart is a form of a Rebbelib (a chart that covers most or all of the Marshall Islands)
Used for navigation between the Marshall islands in eastern Micronesia
Composed of wooden sticks: horizontal and vertical acted as supports and the diagonal and curved ones represented wave swells
Small shells represented where all the islands were
Context\Audience:
Shows the ingenuity of the Marshallese ri-metos, despite Europeans initially believing they were primitive
Micronesians in the northwestern pacific are renowned for their navigational skills, particularly regarding these navigation charts
The Marshallese navigators were able to utilize natural ocean swells to navigate around vast island chains
The Navigation Charts have vital information and serve as mnemonic devices for skilled ri-metos who had great status and social influence because of their navigation skills
Ri-metos religiously guarded their charts and treated them as prized social items, the type which would be passed on from generation to generation
Intended function\purpose:
Used for navigation between the Marshall islands
Different charts represented differing degrees of geographical measurement
Some represented large geographic areas, while others only showed smaller water features around islands
The maps were memorized and not actually brought on the canoes with people
Artistic Innovation\Convention:
The Navigation Charts represents the ability of the Marshallese navigations to fluently read oceanic swells in large sections of the Pacific
Thematic + Cross Cultural Connections:
Related to mattang type of navigational map, which is similar but is more of a training version of this map
THEMES:
Domestic life
History\memory
Identity
Power\authority
Family
Everyday life
Sources: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/the-pacific/a/navigation-charts
