»Back then, the white man came, saw… and collected«.
A century ago the Torres Strait Islands in far north Australia were the famous subjects of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition; yet the resulting depletion of their cultural artefacts left them with nothing but a history of remembered loss. The only people in the Pacific to make elaborate turtleshell masks have none left; they are all in foreign museums. In a quest to reclaim the past, Ephraim Bani, a wise and knowledgeable Torres Strait Islander, travels with his wife to the great museums of Europe where his heritage lies. In her farewell a shop assistant expresses the longing of all Islanders: » So not only our children but also the older generations will see the masks that were taken away so long ago.« In Europe, Bani soon realises that the artefacts made by his ancestors have undergone a transformation as museum displays. Through his eyes, the museum is subjected to a novel form of scrutiny.
