Nouméa, 7 August 2013
Jean-Marc Ayrault is to restore Atai’s skull to New Caledonia, according to an article published in Journal des Arts. The decision was announced during the French Priminster’s recent 3-day visit to New Caledonia. The skull is a symbol of the Kanak Revolution of 1878, during which Atai was decpatitated by French colonisers. The skulls was then taken to Paris, where it was exhibited in Trocadero’s ‘Musée d’Ethnographie’, before joining the collections at the Musée de l’Homme.
Thought to have been stolen until 2011, the skull was rediscovered- at which point it was reclaimed by Atai représentatives. Commenting on the matter, Jean-Marc Ayrault stated “The position of the state is clear: yes this relic should be returned to New Caledonia, and it will be returned”. The promise comes 25 years after the Matignon agreements, with the restitution expected to take place in September 2014.
The event recalls a prior case which took place in France in 2011, regarding the restitution of a skull taken from the Maori people. The French government was forced to pass a law enabling the restitution, which goes against a prior law stating that works housed in French muséums must remain part of their collections.