Ùu (club)

These carvings, it’s as if they were invocations for ancestors to come and help in the fight. To protect. 

—Teiki Hu‘ukena, patutiki (tattooing) practitioner 

The dense ironwood from which this club is carved is known as toa in the Marquesas Islands, a term that also means warrior. These remarkable clubs are renowned for their complex layering of incised motifs and for the dynamic proliferation of eyes and faces that look out from all sides. Protective images, or tiki, are linked to ancestors and signal the work’s expressive power and agency. The sheer multiplicity of tiki distributed across the club’s polished surface fulfills a highly strategic objective for its bearer: to mesmerize and overwhelm all those who encounter it.