Te Mata O Te Fenua Exhibition
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COMMUNITY
Communities of the Marquesas Islands
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WHERE
Musée de Tahiti et des Îles, Te Fare Manaha, Tahiti
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WHAT
Exhibition
Bringing the work home
For decades, Jimmy Nelson’s work has travelled away from the places where it was made. It has hung in museums, filled books and reached audiences on every continent, often far from the people who chose to stand in front of his camera.
Te Mata O Te Fenua reverses that direction. At the invitation of the Musée de Tahiti et des Îles, Te Fare Manaha, Jimmy returned to the Marquesas Islands to make new portraits with his 8×10 large format camera. The exhibition is centred on the people and traditions of the islands, and local artists are invited to take part, making it a shared work rather than a single perspective.
The Marquesas carry a culture that is very much alive, expressed through language, craft, dance and patutiki, the Marquesan art of tattoo. This project does not frame that culture as something to be preserved from a distance. It places it where it belongs, among the people who carry it forward.
For Jimmy, this is something long hoped for. It is the first time his work is exhibited within the communities he photographed.
A lasting return
Te Mata O Te Fenua is a joint project of Jimmy Nelson Studio and the Jimmy Nelson Foundation, and embodies the essence of the Foundation’s reciprocity programme by giving back to the communities who contributed to the work.
The exhibition runs from October 2026 to February 2027 at the Musée de Tahiti et des Îles. After it closes, the artworks will not leave. They will remain in French Polynesia, as a lasting return to the islands where they were made.
Every portrait begins with trust. This project makes sure that trust is answered with something lasting, returned to the islands where the images were made.
What remains
Together with the communities and our partners, we are shaping the final form of this give back.
The artworks will either be placed with the communities themselves, or auctioned locally, with all proceeds going directly to the communities of the Marquesas Islands.
Whichever path is chosen, the principle is the same. The work belongs where it was made, and its value returns to the people who made it possible.
More will follow soon.
With gratitude to Air Tahiti Nui, Musée de Tahiti et des Îles, Banque de Tahiti, Tahiti Tourisme and Objectif Image Tahiti for making this project possible.
