{"id":238111,"date":"2026-07-28T13:10:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T23:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=238111"},"modified":"2026-07-28T13:15:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T23:15:06","slug":"asia-pacific-cultural-stories-exhibit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/28\/asia-pacific-cultural-stories-exhibit\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> digital exhibit connects Asia-Pacific through shared cultural stories"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Marshallese style stick chart made by APME<\/abbr> fellows indicating their locations and route to Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> (Credit: Ima Kurniasanti)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An ancient glass shard. A mural painted thousands of miles from home. A ceremonial headband passed through generations.<\/p>\n

These objects tell stories that stretch across generations and oceans in The Ocean That Remembers<\/a>, a new digital exhibition created through the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies<\/a> (CSEAS)<\/abbr> and its Asia-Pacific Museum Exchange<\/a> (APME)<\/abbr> program. <\/p>\n

“The APME<\/abbr> program was designed to introduce the cohort to museum experts based at cultural institutions in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> as well as museum educators affiliated with the National Park Service,” said APME<\/abbr> program director Teri Skillman. “A regional need exists both to upgrade the Asia-Pacific region\u2019s national and provincial museums and to build a network across the Pacific.”<\/p>\n

Stories that span oceans<\/h2>\n
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Dissa Aruna Makalingga stands with Affandi’s mural The Wisdom of the East<\/em> (Credit: Leni Leon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among the featured stories is a fragment of Egyptian Roman glass discovered in a burial site in Palau. Researchers traced it to an Egyptian workshop, revealing trade connections that linked distant cultures centuries before modern navigation.<\/p>\n

Other stories focus on living traditions. Dissa Aruna Makalingga, collections manager at Museum Affandi in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, tells the story behind The Wisdom of the East, the only mural completed during the lifetime of celebrated Indonesian artist Affandi. As Affandi’s great-grandson, Makalingga traveled to Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> to see the mural for the first time at the East-West Center<\/a>‘s Imin Center, joining only two other family members who have ever viewed it in person.<\/p>\n

Building museum connections<\/h2>\n

Beyond creating the exhibition, participants exchanged ideas with museum experts in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, shared preservation strategies and built a network that continues long after the program ends. The Asia-Pacific is home to about 1,800 cultures that often face similar challenges preserving their heritage, including limited resources and climate impacts. By sharing knowledge and best practices, APME<\/abbr> helps museum professionals protect and tell the stories of their communities.<\/p>\n

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APME<\/abbr> fellows learning about paper preservation at UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s Hamilton Library.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Visitors can explore the exhibition through APME<\/abbr>‘s new website, where each story reveals how history lives not only in museum collections, but also in the people and communities who continue to care for them.<\/p>\n

APME<\/abbr> provides professional development for early- and mid-career museum professionals from small and medium-sized museums and cultural centers across Island Southeast Asia and the western Pacific, helping them strengthen museum practices while building lasting partnerships across the region.<\/p>\n

The APME<\/abbr> Program is funded by the U.S. Department of State\u2019s Cultural Heritage Center in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and conducted through the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>-Pacific Islands Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit CESU<\/abbr>; TA<\/abbr># P24AC000688.<\/p>\n

—by Julia Liu<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ocean That Remembers is a new digital exhibition created through UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s CSEAS<\/abbr> and its Asia-Pacific Museum Exchange program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":238146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[105,1562,10,134,1591,9],"class_list":["post-238111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-art","tag-center-for-southeast-asian-studies","tag-east-west-center","tag-international","tag-museum-studies","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t