A ‘Layered Lens’ on the Arts of the Islamic World in the Contemporary Pacific

Abstract

The unique situation of the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design – conceptually, as one of the only museums wholly dedicated to the arts of the Islamic world in the United States; and geographically, as located in the Polynesian archipelago of Hawaiʻi – provides rich opportunities for reflection on the understanding and interpretation of the historic and contemporary artworks held in our collection. This essay highlights the curator’s relationships with contemporary artists and makers from direct, diasporic, and descendent communities connected to the areas aligned with the mission of the museum. It will demonstrate that contemporary curatorial practice at Shangri La seems to be following – and, quietly, occasionally, perhaps even helping to contribute to – the flowering of what is surely Islamic arts, not art – the plurality of richness and diversity that is increasingly impossible to hold within one category.