Oceanic Arc

A tree is "growing" in Pago Pago. Circling the sturdy redwood's trunk are writhing ancestral figures — slave, virginal taupou and high chief — and carved at canopy height are the words SAMOA MUAMUA LEATUA, God first in Samoa. Soaring above American Samoa's national museum and gallery, the sculpture — titled From Agony to Ecstasy — is the brainchild of local artist Tile Tuala. Scurrying around it on this warm winter's morning are the half-dozen assistants from other island nations whom the artist has enlisted to help with the finishing touches of his sculpture. "We...