Sean Mallon is of Sāmoan (Mulivai, Safata) and Irish descent and is Senior Curator Pacific Cultures at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. He is the author of Samoan Art and Artists (2002) and coedited Pacific Art Niu Sila: The Pacific dimension of contemporary New Zealand arts (2002), Tatau: Samoan tattoo, New Zealand art, global culture (2010) and Tangata o le Moana: New Zealand and the people of the Pacific (2012). He was a co-author of Art in Oceania: A new history (2012), which was awarded the Authors’ Club’s Art Book Prize.