French electric utility EDF ran a public service advertisement on sustainable development in 2007 set on Easter Island. The beautifully filmed spot seemed to point blame for deforestation at the Easter Islanders themselves. This bothered the Chilean government, which administers Easter Island and which voiced its objections in France.



From this misunderstanding a lovely exhibition has been born, now through next February at the EDF Foundation in Paris. The Louise Leiris gallery has also published a significant catalogue of Rapa Nui art and artefacts, in French and in English: Trésors de l’ïle de Pâques / Treasures of Easter Island, with text by researchers Catherine and Michel Orliac.

I encourage anyone in Paris this Winter to visit the exhibition. Entry is free, and it’s especially good for families with children. The exhibition is small in scale. This is a strong point, because the scale of Rapa Nui culture makes it possible for the exhibition to brief visitors thoroughly on the history, geography, and ecology of Easter Island and its inhabitants. Easter Island itself is not large, and few colonists made the journey to it.  Easter Island is among the most remote places that are inhabited, and the Polynesian seafarers who colonized the island were superlative navigators.

What intrigued me most was an historical aside: in the 1860s, Peruvian slavers landed on Easter Island and captured over a thousand people, perhaps half the population.

And the exhibition corrects the impression that the Rapa Nui were somehow responsible for their decline, with research showing that the climate changed dramatically and durably, becoming much cooler.

I have two regrets about the exhibition. First, promotional efforts can best be described as low-key. The cosy exhibition space was full (but not crowded) when I visited, but aside from a press kit I found little to help me spread the word and encourage others to visit. Second, the exhibition is comprehensive in scope and brought together many objects in private collections. I wish that the EDF Foundation would make exhibition content available through the Internet. I think in particular of children, whose curiosity may be piqued by the statues for which Easter Island is famous and who would be eager to learn more, but who are not likely customers of fine art books.