Pacific Arts N.S. Vol. 24, No. 1 (2024)

Roger Boulay (1943-2024) devoted the majority of his professional life to building an inventory of Kanak material culture from New Caledonia.In 1979, Jean-Marie Tjibaou had passed the idea for this project on to Boulay, who immediately set to work in New Caledonia and in European museums.In 1982, he became a part-time curator at the National Museum of the Arts of Africa and Oceania in Paris, and began reorganizing that museum collection and its displays.In subsequent years he created or co-commissioned an amazing variety of exhibitions, in Paris, Nouma, and elsewhere.He often looked at objects from unexpected angles, preferring the critical eye of the craftsman he had been.From