Emmanuel Kasarhérou

Emmanuel Kasarhérou (b. 1960) is the curator of Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, He is the former head of the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre in New Caledonia. He specializes in the art of New Caledonia and Oceanic cultures.

Early life In 1960, Emmanuel Kasarhérou was born in Noumea, New Caledonia. His father, who was of Kanak descent, worked as a tailor; he had traveled to Paris to learn his craft.

Career In 1985, when Kasarhérou was 25 years old, he became the director of Musée de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (Museum of New Caledonia). At the time, New Caledonia was in the midst of a civil war.

In 1994, he became involved with the development of the Tjibaou Cultural Center. The center was named after Jean-Marie Tjibaou, the founder of the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), who had been assassinated in 1989. Views Kasarhérou has spoken of his perspective as someone of both French and Kanak descent. He explained, "I feel as much the descendant of people who were colonizers of a certain place as of people who were colonized."