709. ~~~ TRIDAL ARTOf YAY~A NEW (j~INEA TKII'AL AKT Of f'Af'tJA NEW QtJlNEA =.rlicAK New Zealand _ogmphy Uoyd Park Helen Dennen Paul Dennett Exhibition Curators "'*"Roger "'""'"Smith Cootribulors "'*"Soroi """rep:>"""""Eoe KaterinlI Mataira Graphic Designers Catherine Gee Stephen Smyth T,.....""Qjickset PIalemakers ltd Whitcouris"""'''' "" Christchurch Exhibitioo toured by !he Robert McOougalI Art Gallery C!vistchun:h. New ZeaI¥ld FOREWORD Amongst my small collection of Papua Niu Gini art pieces. energy, Papua Nui Gini asserts its commitment to a policy are a pair of wood sculptures from the $erik Valley. One is a which acknowledges the right of its diverse peoples to squatting male figure with his hands raised to his ears, The maintain the ancient ways of their forefathers. \\!hat a other is a bare·breasted, cross·legged female with her hands maJVellous anachronism that art works which properly firmly placed uJX'>n her knees. Both have a quizzical belong to an ancient Ume are stin being created in the expression on their faces and sport their sex with cheeky but present. dignified aplomb. They are not classic examples of Sepik But Papua Niu Gini is also committed to the future and sculpture. Nor are they particularly old. But together the pair the modem world. While many of her ciUzens live as their have a great deal to say about male-female relationships an<;estors did centuries ago, subject sUllto ancient Gods, ::Iepending on how they are placed and the juxtaposition of rituals and customary law, as many of her sons and ;,ne with the other. daughters have leapt into the 20th Century equipped with Face to face, side by side, back to back, standing or tying, the skills necessary to tweek the ears of the modem world. the figures make fun of the frailties inherent in the everyday The leap has caused Papua Niu Gini art to nourish. Unlike interactions between man and woman. I am reminded that her South Pacific cousins, neither missionary nor colonial ethnic art, generally regarded as being locked into the influence appears to have affected Papua Niu Gini art nuances of its own culture, can in fact make universal adversely. If anything. the opposite is true for these alien comments relevant to all mankind. influences have brought with them new concepts, new At present both sculptures are looking directly at me as challenges and new conflicts to harrass the creative mind though they were challenging me to say something into greater productivity. profound about Papua Nui Gini art. But I am neither art criUc It is perhaps this unique dichotomy - the mix and match. nor anthropologist. Rather, I regard myself as a fellow artist the thrust and pany, the challenge and response of the old whose response to the art of others is essentlally subjective and new which gives Papua Niu Gini art its particular and therefore personal. I would no more impose my flavour of earthy dynamism. The best of Papua Niu Gini art responses upon others than I would expect them to impose is for me the nearest thing to viewing a caged but living theirs upon me. dinosaur. Suffice to say that the art world should consider itself . fortunate that in this turbulent century when the rest of the world competes to master the sophisUcated technology associated with electronics, space exploration ana nuclear Katerina fllataira INTRODUCTION Works of art seen in the majority of exhibitions presented in New Zealand art galleries are extensions of the western european tradition of fine arts. Values, inherited and shared Ulrough western art histol)'. give a visual kinship to art collections in cities as dislant as Avignon. Auckland. Adelaide and Edinburgh. OUf vision is often focussed outwards towards Europe. failing to recognise the wealth and diversity of art forms of the Pacific community to which we in New Zealand belong. In assembling this exhibition of Tribal Art of Papua New Guinea the Robert McDougall Art Gallery's intention is to help create an awareness of the art of a pacific people whose visual language is one of exceptional vigour and richness. We acknowledge with gratitude the considerable assistance provided by Mrs Helen Dennett and Mr Saroi Marepo Eoe. We are also grateful to Cathay Pacific Airlines for their very willing support in making the exhibition possible. John Coley DIRECTOR Papua New Guinea forms the eastern half of the island of the Sawos, the Karawaris, the Kambot and the people of the New Guinea the world's second largest island. The westem Lower Sepik. The Kwoma and the Abelam are primarily yam half comprises the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya. With a cultivators and hill dwellers while those people in the second land area of 462,840 square kilometres it includes the large group are riverine dwellers who either live on the main river islands of New Britain, New Ireland and Bougainville and or on the tributaries or lakes connected to it. over 600 small islands many of them archipelagos. Over Subsistence agriculture, hunting and in the riverine areas, 700 languages are spoken in Papua New Guinea. With the fishing, form the basis of daily life. Sago is the staple food in total population just under three million there is a areas bordering and adjacent to the river while in the hilly bewildering number of cultural groups. This ahibition areas yams usually supplemented with sago are the major brings together a variety of sculpled and woven works from staple in the people's diet. Nowadays rice and oU'er two of the most prolific art'producing areas in the counlIy: imported foods supplement traditional fare. the Papuan Gulf and the Sepik. To gain some understanding of Sepik art, it must be seen In an exhibition of this size the profuse variety of Sepik art in its cultural setting. II cannot be interpreted purely from an forms can only be hinted at. It has not been possible to aesthetic viewpoint. In earlier times the prime motivation for include exhibits from a number of areas such as the-<Jpper Sepik art was religious. Despite the cultural modifications Sepik which in itself includes a number of sub·styles or the caused by the coming of Europeans there is still a firm belief Yuat River, home of the Mundugumor. Nevertheless, apart in the spiritual world existing as a dimension of the visible from the cultural context, an overall view gives the outsider world. some idea of the ability of the Sepiks to use available natural In riverine villages the men's cult house was the focus for materials which include cane. clay, wood, bamboo and elaborate ceremonies, the most important of which related gourds 10 create a great diversity of forms, They also to the cult of head hunting. fllasks, figures, musical highlight another noted feature of Sepik art, that is, the instruments and other ceremonial paraphernalia were widespread use of extraneous material such as feathers, produced spedficaffy to give visual and aural reality to the paint, shells and bone to enhance and ornament sculplured spiritual forces, that, with due ritual could assist man to keep and woven works. a measure of balance and control in his cosmos. Ritual Before the introduction of sleel, tools were made from obj~ were not a mere concrete representation of a available materials. Stone adzes were used for preliminary particular spirit. A man who wore the mask and other cutting and shaping of wood. Drilling, cutting and finishing paraphemalia of a spirit was actually that spirit. When a man tools were made from shell, bone or animals' leeth. Special played a musical instrument in a ritual context, the sounds leaves, pigs tusks and in some areas various types of produced were not simply beats or notes but the actual scaleless fish skins were used as abrasives. Needles for voices or footsteps of inhabitants of the spiritual realm. sewing and weaving were made from animal bones. Rites are still performed to ensure success in hunting, The Sepik River rises in the \/ictor Emmanuel Range, gardening and other seemingly mundane activities. For takes a westerly course, crosses the border into Irian Jaya example before setting out to hunt game a man will by his and twists back in great loops. It flows eastwards for over a ritual actions spiritually enliven his hunting spear. Spells are thousand kilometres before emptying into the Bismark Sea recited, bespelled plants are rubbed on it and various rites soulh east of Wewak, the provincial headquarters. ordained by custom to be efficacious are performed. Usually Ethnographers and art historians have split Ule Sepik area the spear is engraved with a spiritual or totemic motif. In Ihe into style provinces. The boundaries shown on the map Middle Sepik area a motif personifying the bush spirit indicate areas with distinct style characteristics. However, 'winjimbu' is frequenUy engraved on spears. A hunter over a long period there appears to have been considerable explained it thus: exchange of objects, songs and even ceremonies. Similar Wingimbu's power must be with me. I carve him on my design elements are found over a wide area and it is often hunting spear. J speak to him realiZing that without his help I difficult to assign objects to a particular provenance. ' will not hunt successfully. He is in my spear. My spear is a The artists who created the works in this ahibition may part of me. I cannot eat a pig that dies by my spear for my be placed in two general groups; firstly the Kwoma and the blood travels through the spear and into the pig. southem Abelam or Wosera, the former living in the The hunter representing a Sepik prototype, sees himself as Ambunti Hills immediately north of the river, the latter living part of a world made up of interdependent material and in the southern foothills of the Prince Alexander Range to the spiritual realities.