There were two spectacular ceremonial openings organised by the artists who displayed their work in Brisbane at APT7 that we saw on this trip to the East Sepik. Justin and I were also doing a mini cultural eco-tourism potential reconnaissance survey on the side to try to assist the communities to benefit from the exposure their work had in Brisbane.

Kwoma : Opening of a new spirit house in Tongwinjamb #3 5th August 2013

The respective openings and festivities in the Abelam and Kwoma were spectacular visual, musical, and performance events. The night music show done on the ridge platform of the new spirit house in Tongwinjamb in pitch darkness was very accomplished in composition and in its performance. It was magical, and was worthy of being staged, for example, in Hamer Hall in Melbourne. The Kwoma guys opened a new spirit house that they had been working on when they were commissioned for APT7 in 2011at Tongwinjamb with an official opening program in the morning, and a music performance at night. The next day was another set of ceremonies and festivities and more night dancing, There were dancing local village groups and also some from three nearby places but from different directions, and there was also a lot of art on display.

Abelam : Mini Yam Festival at Brikiti -an Apengai village

The Abelam guys had a Mini Yam Festival that involved an initiation ceremony and unusual associated display of an interior chamber inside an old house. A number of young guys were taken through a stage of male initiation and there were some spectacular dancing groups performing. There was also some newly revived art, not seen since the 1980s, from Ilahita, the co-organisers of this show. Although crammed into one day, and a bit chaotic in starting, this was a well supported event with considerable local interest and enthusiastic local and neighbouring participation. A new spirit house is going to be built to replace this one which is well past its use by date.

The survey

This project is to do a representative sample survey of the cultural, geographic and ecological assets in these areas to gauge their potential to attract overseas tourists.
The process will be to :

(a) make an inventory of cultural, environmental and experiential assets
(b) conduct a basic survey of village desires, awareness of tourist expectations, and preparedness for tourism.

The criteria to be satisfied relate the places and activities to their potential to contribute to a locally sustainable small scale industry.  There are obvious attractions in both areas (see the images) but the survey questions relate to quantity and quality :

• is there enough critical mass there to make the expensive journey there worthwhile?
• are local travel, walking tracks, guides, food and accommodation comfortable and reliable enough to attract paying tourists in C21st?
• do the village people know and/or have records of their artistic and built heritage?

Survey Proposal Background 

The imperative to do this survey came from the desire of a number of artists in these communities to find ways to support the continuity of their cultural heritages including their artistic skills and their stewardship of their natural environments —which always were integral to their survival (both as people and as cultural entities).   It is important to realise that 38 years after independence means a whole new generation, the majority, have grown up since the time when their arts were famous and valued by outsiders.

The catalyst was the involvement of the Sepik  craftsman at the APT 7, The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, in Brisbane, held at the Queensland Art Gallery -Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) in 2012-13.

Following the enthusiastic response that their work received from both Australian and international visitors to the exhibition, they saw the opportunity to attract more tourists.

In discussions with them Martin Fowler, who had helped co-ordinated their APT7 involvement, found general agreement amongst them for a survey visit. It was clear that both the extent of their cultural and natural sites needed documenting, as did an assessment of the skills they had or would require to successfully host international visitors.

When the artists returned home they also negotiated with Harris Bein from Ilahita and Melbourne, to get his help in liaising with local authorities and other villages in the Abelam area. Together they organised the publicity for the Brikiti and Tongwinjamb events, and got enthusiastic backing from significant villages and leaders for this visit to take place.  The idea of the survey was also floated with newly elected members of the PNG parliament who all seemed keen to do support such activities to increase tourism to the enthusiastic villages.

Justin  Francis’  own professional interest is in the area of cultural and ecotourism from experience working with the Seagate people in the development of sustainable tourism operations.  He has joined with Martin to assist with the cultural and natural asset mapping task, and lead the assessment of the specific areas required for increasing the capacity of the local communities to host visitors.

But the information and visual material to be collected and documented in various media needs to be available to a number of other interested parties without whose actions the village level initiative will not be sustainable. The areas of interest are in the transport and accommodation, and in the tourist information and  administrative infrastructure areas, all of which currently are inadequate to serve the needs of the average overseas tourist.

Historical Background

These areas are richly represented in C20th anthropology studies, and their material culture was collected in colonial times by overseas museums and remain in significant collections there still —and  in the PNG National Museum.

Maprik and the surrounding area was a tourist draw card for the Territory of PNG from the 1950s. At independence there was a Cultural Centre in town and another at Maprik High School —both tourist magnets and outlets for local art and craft.

While the Kwoma were off the beaten track they did have exposure through Ambunti and the Sepik River tourism circuit. Both Abelam and Kwoma areas had regular air services in those days which made access easy and reliable as well.

This amazing building was a collaborative effort of the culture groups in the electorate for the local level government. All groups’ artists contributed and it was the council chamber at Ambunti until about 1984. It was then replaced by the western style one incorporating some of the cut down posts on its verandah. That one is still in use today. A court house, similarly impressive, was also built subsequently. But was burnt down by somebody disgruntled with a decission that went against them —so the stori goes!