Air Tahiti’s unu from the Centre des Métiers d’Art Unu are sculptures that were originally found standing on the ahu of marae (comparable to the altar of a church in its sanctity) long ago. These carved wooden boards, sometimes decorated with fretwork, told a story on both sides, the tips were cut into fork-like prongs (characteristic of unu from Tahiti), representing the people that were depicted on these forks or even animals such as birds(elements more commonly found on the unu from the Leeward Islands). These unu were ritual objects that commemorated a chief or hero, starting with the most famous of warriors. Similarly, Air Tahiti’s unu, made by the Centre des Métiers d’Art (Tahiti’s School of Fine Arts), commemorate the men and women through history who, through their untiring daily work never stop and won’t ever stop bringing the people of French Polynesia closer together. This project, which has evolved over the last few months, was carried out under the supervision of Tokainiua Devatine, a teacher of history and Polynesian civilization, and Hihirau Vaitoare, a sculpture teacher. If the project stretched out over several years and different groups of students, the actual carving of these unu took just three weeks of work, staggered over several stages. The figures of two mythical heroes from Polynesian culture were chosen, who convey the values that Air Tahiti sought to communicate through these objects. These characters are also figures that already feature in Air Tahiti’s legend : the first is Tafa’i, the hero who fishedup the islands, a symbol of how the people of Oceania have been brought together, the other is Hiro, the great navigator and brilliant inventor, always finding ingenious ways to complete his many tasks. These two heroes, who worked so hard to improve society, for the good of the people, each have an unu devoted to them, sculpted in mahogany, chosen because it is a durable and precious wood, resistant to insects and particularly suitable for carving, due to wood’s fine grain. Tafa’i has been commemorated with a figurative unu inspired by the Society Islands,upon which we can clearly make out the sculpted figure of the hero in the process of raising an island out of the ocean with his fishing hook. For this rendition of the different stages of the raising of the island, the artist has played on contrasting colors and textures of the materials used, white shelland the matte texture of the mahogany, that will become smooth over time. The second unu, with its clearly Tahitian inspired fork shape, is not figurative but rather a metaphorical representation of Hiro’s achievements, the inventor of the pahi, the large voyaging canoes that are pieced and sewn together from large wooden sections. This time, the inlaid pieces of shell symbolize the cords used to attach the different canoe boards together. While on the other side, the shell inlays are an abstract representation of the present day situation, symbolizing the rivets on an aircraft fuselage. The underlying concept being to establish the link between today and yesterday, because it is the same population that is being transported. Needless to say Air Tahiti will cherish these two unu for a long time to come, designed as they are to celebrate the ingenuity and inventiveness of the Oceanian people, as wellas their courage and intrepidity. Virginie Gillet i cMa - Vaihere Tauraa, 2018