Set against a Tahitian background echoing the scenic French wallpaper Les sauvages de la mer Pacifique (c.1804–05) that inspired the work, in pursuit of Venus [infected] draws on theatre and animation traditions to reclaim the history of ‘discovery’ between Pacific Islanders and European explorers. Epic in scope, scale and duration, it recasts these moments of contact, connection and conflict – or, according to Reihana, ‘originary infection’ – from a Polynesian perspective. The film is a continuous loop, with Captain Cook’s eventual death only one of eighty live-action vignettes that unfold before the viewer. This format of presenting the film with no perceptible beginning or end invokes Tā–Vā, a concept of time and space in the Pacific that builds a more complex and layered cultural narrative.