Easter Island

Hoa Hakananai'a

Over the past year or so I have dipped into the book "The History of the World in 100 Objects". There was a degree of trepidation when I downloaded the book as I more often than not enjoy straight narrative history. The idea of zeroing in on various artworks, statues, or whatever, did not truly appeal. But good reviews won the day. The book has gradually won me over, one object at a time. 

The author, Neil MacGregor, after first describing each item, then expands upon it, drawing forth lessons on the wider world. Also, the book is in no way eurocentric, the various objects are examples from every continent as well as every historic age. 

Sir Anthony Caro

Recently, object number 70, the Hoa Hakananai’a Easter Island Statue proved a high point. Mr MacGregor, an expert himself on such artifacts, has no qualms in quoting others. On this particular statue, after describing it himself as having a "rare combination of physical mass and evocative potency", then allows sculptor Sir Anthony Caro to offer his own insights upon what he sees as the essence of his art:-

I see sculpture, the setting up of a stone, as a basic human activity. You’re investing that stone with some sort of emotive power, some sort of presence. That way of making a sculpture is a religious activity. What the Easter Island sculpture does is give just the essence of a person. Every sculptor since Rodin has looked to primitive sculpture, because all the unnecessary elements are removed. Anything that is left in is what stresses the power of the stone. We are down to the essence; its size, its simplicity, its monumentality and its placement – those are all things that matter.

I thought then of the "uncarved stone", used to translate the Chinese word Pu, which refers to a state of pure potential which is "the primordial condition of the mind before the arising of experience. The Taoist concept of Pu points to perception without prejudice, i.e. beyond dualistic distinctions such as right/wrong, good/bad, black/white, beautiful/ugly. It is a state of mental unity which places the Taoist practitioner into alignment with the Tao."

Hoa Hakananai'a (back view)

Back to Easter Island. Long after the statue was first carved further carvings were made upon its back by a new generation of islanders. "Ecological change recorded in stone" as is said. 

Neil MacGregor then makes his point:-

There is something poignant in this dialogue between the two sides of Hoa Hakananai’a, a sculpted lesson that no way of living or thinking can endure forever. His face speaks of the hope we all have of unchanging certainty; his back of the shifting expediencies that have always been the reality of life. He is Everyman. 

Well, that is it. Time and eternity, shifting sands. The appropriate statement. Time to go.