Recreating a 



Tahitian 



Marketplace 



^JefFHoke, Exhibit Desigrxr 



Lush, tropical mountains, cool aquamarine la- 

 goons, and islanders dressed in colorful floral 

 prints are some of the images that may come to mind 

 when you think of Tahiti. And when approaching 

 this group of islands by plane, they appear pristine, 

 primeval, and unchanged. Upon landing in the is- 

 land's largest city, Papeete, however, you are quickly 

 reminded that Tahiti is in the twentieth century. 



Papeete is a bustling metropolis of some 25,000 

 inhabitants and a crossroads for several cultures. The 

 influence of French colonialism can be seen in the 

 town's architecture and in the names of streets. Many 

 of the shops bear the names of their Chinese pro- 

 prietors, and among the crowd one sees Polynesian 

 women wearing parens, wrapped dresses decorated 

 with colorful patterns. 



There is rock and roll music blaring from car 

 radios and "boom boxes" throughout the crowded 

 streets, and the latest movies can be rented on video. 

 But there is also traditional dance to be seen and 

 music to be heard, and people weaving items from 

 pandanus and palm leaves as they have for hundreds 

 of years. All these elements come together in Pape- 

 ete's central market — the inspiration for a replica on 

 view in the Field Museum's new exhibit, "Traveling 

 the Pacific." 



As you walk through the exhibit, you are intro- 

 duced to the natural history of the Pacific area, and a 

 portion of the Museum's anthropology collection. 

 Since our collections date from 1900 and earlier, there 

 is little opportunity for visitors to see cultures in a 

 present-day setting. By recreating the marketplace 

 from Papeete, we have the opportunity to show a con- 

 temporary view of the mix of traditional Tahitian, 

 European, and Asian cultures. 



Upon entering the space, visitors are first con- 

 26 fronted by the towering structure of a tin-roofed mar- 



ketplace. Wandering through the arcades, there are 

 stalls displaying meats, local fish, ancient Polynesian 

 food crops, along with Chinese and European vege- 

 tables. Nearby are tropical flowers for sale and a stand 

 of locally crafted items. Across the street is a row of 

 shops that reflect some of the French colonial influ- 

 ence, with covered walkways and decorative railings. 



Walking under the balcony, visitors first pass the 

 window of a boutique, with displays of colorful im- 

 ported fabrics with "tropical" designs. In the store's 

 doorway. Museum visitors can try on a traditional 

 Tahitian pareu. Next door to the fabric store, you 

 can peep into a general store stuffed with French, 

 Chinese, and Tahitian items — with many familiar 

 objects displayed alongside unfamiliar items. The 

 shopkeeper's radio blares out a beat of rock music with 

 a Tahitian touch. Passing down the sidewalk, you can 

 look into the window of a tackle shop to see a display 

 of fishing gear used to catch local sea life. Handmade 

 spear guns, nets, and traps are offered, in addition to a 

 colorful display of odd-looking fishing lures used to 

 attract a wide variety offish, eel, and octopus. At the 

 end of the block is a Chinese pharmacy. Through the 

 doorway, you can see shelves lined with imported 

 medicines and bins of hand-prepared remedies that 

 have been carefully measured and packaged by the 

 pharmacist. 



To recreate a comer of Papeete in the middle of 

 Chicago, we first depended on the research efforts of 

 Stanford University anthropologist Laura Jones, in 

 addition to help from Papeete's museum director, 

 Manouche LeHartel. Jones took time out from her 

 own fieldwork in Tahiti to take hundreds of color 

 photos — everything from panoramas of street scenes 

 to details of walls and cracks in the sidewalks. She 

 sent us back handicrafts, along with store-bought 

 items and audio recordings made during Papeete's 

 market day. 



All these elaborate preparations, however, would 

 not have been enough without the efforts and enthu- 

 siasm of the Museum's production staff to translate 

 and recreate the marketplace environment from the 

 sources we gave them. 



Museum preparators Dan Brinkmeier, George 

 Chavez, Doug Jewell, Bruce Scherting, and Robin 

 Whatley, among others, were given the task of 

 recreating the marketplace. The goal was to build not 

 just a simple structure, but to create an illusion of an 

 urban environment weathered by wind and rain and 

 give the impression of decades of use by Papeete's 

 inhabitants. 



