One of the ways to observe the history of interactions between Pacific Islanders and Westerners lies in the documentation and analysis of both their artistic productions, in particular those produced by one community about the other. Sculpting, engraving or drawing the Other testifies for the integration of alterity, both in the way he/she/they are represented and by the choice of the type of artefact on which they are. These works of art testify to the links, relations and transfers which once existed, from the late pre-colonial to the early colonial period, between these worlds often percieved as antagonistic and segregated ; also, they complexify and enrich our vision and understanding of the cultural shock which the first decades of Western contact indeed represented for Island communities. From the study of these ambivalent objects, mostly Kanak-carved bamboo and Convict-carved shells many questions arise. But although they are usually set apart, because they differ by their status, their function, their trajectories, their value (ancient or modern), their heritage status… are they not in fact quite similar, as technical and aesthetized translations of a founding historical moment ?