ARCHITECTURE ART MELANESIA Project:

these cultural markers seen over changing times

Research material on the diversely rich body of Melanesian traditional art and architecture exists. Also content comes from working in architecture and cultural affairs in Papua New Guinea in 1970s. More recently comes from involvement with Museums, academic research and teaching and writing

Martin recently worked with editors of the book Architectural Conservation Australia New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, which was published by Routledge early in 2024. He previously worked on the Encyclopaedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, 2nd Edition project. In both cases writing entries and doing some editing. Both needed Melanesia introductions and new entries.

Melanesia for this project first focuses on Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. They are the big three key Melanesian Spearhead Group countries that have very large majority Melanesian populations with very similar Cultural traditions and aspirations that are supported with agendas that are linked to UNESCO heritage concerns.

The large island New Guinea, with the Bismarck archipelago, then the Solomons archipelago, and then islands of Vanuatu all display coherent geographic and cultural divisions within their underpinning Melanesian roots. Especially within these countries traditional architecture and art was strongly expressed. It is richly diverse and imbued with meaning. How the diverse expressions of architecture and art can be seen to change in different places over time are linked attitudes and forces related to Custom – tradition at first contact, Colonial times resulting in independence, and Today current times.). Architecture and art, as it is built and lived in, can be used as evidence in all these cases because it reveals a lot when it is examined through the traditional, colonial and contemporary lenses.

°Dani watch tower 1961 Dutch New Guinea.

°Body art New Guinea Highlands Book cover ° 1950s

Martin was architect for some key modern cultural development buildings during the independence period in PNG. In Australia he did research and writing on school buildings, practised as an architect, became an academic and presented papers on his research work at conferences. This led to doing a thesis based on the changing building expressions of three related Melanesian peoples in different locations in Australia’s Papua over over colonial times.

The result is that an extensive amount of material has built up over the years which is now to be put towards this project. Aspects of some of the more recent PNG trips and projects from 2002 to say 2016 are already up in earlier posts on this website.

Working on both of the publications mentioned at the beginning was interesting and satisfying. It was also challenging in terms of the limited page space available within such publishing projects with worldwide coverage. This project however is about focusing on Melanesia’s rich and diverse Architecture and Art and giving it and the resilient people the recognition that they deserve. And finally it is hoped that the results of the work of the project can give back to the communities something they may value and help new generations better understand the social and environmental values and meanings, the skills and the complex and beautiful productions of their forebears.

Kwoma Mens House ceiling & posts QAGoMA APT 7 2011

Solomon Islands Parliament Chamber - ANU Pacific photos
project.

Kauge, objects and bilums from the M+M Collection shown at the Amity Craft Exhibition

held in the George Paton Gallery
2nd Floor Student Union Building The University of Melbourne 19th – 21st November 2013
WORLD Craft Council – Asia Pacific Region South Pacific
Alcaston Gallery and CRAFT (formerly CRAFT Victoria)

Amity Craft Exhibition was curated by Lindy Joubert and Ben Sievewright of the UNESCO Observatory at the University of Melbourne. Artists and others represented included :

Nick Mount presented by Kirra Gallery, Dr Marian Hosking presented by Gallery Funaki, Igora Lucyna Opala Igora Design, Tiwi Islands—Robert Edward Puruntatameri presented by Manupi Arts (photograph by Sabrina Talarico), Professor Robert Baines, PNG—m+m collection — Billums and Contemporary Objects, Cook Islands — Kay George, West Timor — Dr Ruth Hadlow Textile Collection, Australian Tapestry Workshop, Central Australia — Tjanpi Desert Weavers presented by Alcaston Gallery, Central Australia — Tjanpi Desert Weavers presented by Alcaston Gallery, Tonga — Sahra Stolz Collection, Pam Hovel Raw Edge Textiles, South Asia — Sally Campbell, South Pacific — Footscray Community Arts Centre (Artwork by Debbie Flowers, Treahna Hamm and Kui Taukilo; photography by Steven Rhall)

Martin Fowler helped design and install the show with Lindy Joubert and Ben Sievewright, and Bo Svoronos helped hang the works presented by the Footscray Community Arts Centre participants. Others like Sahra Stolz who photographed the opening, helped with interpretation and generally at times. Lighting was by the staff of the George Paton Gallery.

The Amity show was very impressive, colourful and richly diverse as it opened up with a horizontal banner fishing net and Island objects through small jewellery and like objects through the tapestry, textile, Tiwi and Central Australian works to the PNG selection which closed off the end of the long gallery. Interspersed were the tall free standing objects including mannequins with costume pieces —one being a white ‘bilum dress’ by Vicki Kinai called First Contact (Twisted cotton and bilum weave). There are a number of other women artists who have made bilum dresses over the years —entering them in Fashion Shows, and some of their works are now collectors items held by galleries such as Queensland Art Gallery, and by some overseas collections.

The selection from the m+m collection shown at this exhibition is some of the prints acquired from the National Art School (PNG) and, later, bilums, paintings and objects that were commonly available, and found mostly ‘on the footpath’ in towns, and occasionally from artefact dealer shops, or direct from people in villages —from about 1973 to mid 2013.

They give a reasonable indication of the artistic creativity and highly developed and disciplined craft skills displayed in a range of readily available, and sometimes everyday objects to be found around the country of Papua New Guinea. The scale of these objects belies the range and size of much other production in some parts of the country — like the amazing and very big art objects that some of the traditional mens houses represent, and the costuming and music and dance that go with celebrations and events all over the country.

The Catalogue can be downloaded as a pdf.

Bilum Artists

A little bit about them, their bilums and their markets.
Below: A few of the bilum artists posing at their ‘shops’. Their works are in the m+m collection, Now, all I have to do is locate the notes with their names.

Bilums are made by women, most of whom are very skilled, and many of them are artistically creative in their design and aesthetic approaches, especially in the modern bilum arena. Bilums are functional objects on the most basic level, but they are importantly also imbued with layers of cultural, symbolic and symbolic meanings.

The aesthetic and robust properties of the materials and techniques of the looping and construction of modern bilums has seen bilum artists branch out into dress fashion works and other forms of expression.

That is not to dismiss the beauty and individuality and variety within traditional ceremonial bilums, made of natural fibres, where there are often quirky or spectacular attachments added to the surface patterns. And, there is the skill of making the fibre into string and then naturally colouring it with special known things like raw turmeric roots.

White girls and bilums

Ruth, Georgia and Megan, Tongwinjamb in 2013. Isobel in a highlands bilum, Lae about 2006. photos : Justin Francis and Jonika Paulson

L: Ruth, Georgia and Megan, Tongwinjamb in 2013. R: Isobel in a highlands bilum, Lae about 2006.
photos : Justin Francis and Jonika Paulson

A note for occasional collectors of bilums

Most of our bilums were collected from anonymous artists at various footpath and other communally operated selling points. And, at the time of purchase it was difficult to ascertain the WOMEN ARTISTs’ names, especially when the purchase is spontaneous and done during a rush to the airport, or some other appointment. At other times the bilums were presents given after a stay at, or a visit to a village. If a festivity or ceremony was involved then the difficulty of locating the maker greatly increased.

The provenance of some of the more recent bilums (2004 onwards) can be found by searching through diary notes, or stray available pieces of paper stuffed in there after the event. My filing system usually works —eventually, but I should be more systematic with referencing and tagging such notes etc.

Some of the sellers at stall-markets sell for their friends, and each other, at times. In such cases it is common for the names of the makers to be on a slip of paper in the bilum (sometimes with a nominated price). That makes it easier to keep the provenance clear, but sometimes transcribing info and getting the details of ‘ples’ and surname takes time. — For example, at the roadside bilum and craft market on the edge of Wewak town it was a woman who had moved to town from Chambri who was selling hers and others’ bilums and carvings. She knew the info about all the bilums —but had to serve other customers too -so the process took a while.

Whenever possible, on occasional trips to PNG, Martin tries to encourage sellers or agents to properly identify the amazing women artists as creators of their works. He also urges any occasional collector, and particularly regular collectors to plan time to get this provenance information.

HISTORY – a LINTEL saga and some IMPLICATIONS

“‘A toad in a reliquary. When will the French understand the sanctity of their monuments?’ exclaimed Victor Hugo in 1836 after visiting the abbey transformed into a penitentiary. ” from the brochure Mont-Saint-Michel, Éditions Du Patrimone, 2008.

I have been saddened by the reports and commentary on the drama and saga that emerged over the removal and desecration of the carved lintel on the facade,. and proposals to remove some more key narrative elements of the Parliament House in Waigani, December 2013. There is a petition you can sign and send digitally at

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/The_Prime_Minister_of_Papua_New_Guiinea_Stop_the_speaker

On that site is a very good description of the outrageous action of the Speaker and a concise and quite powerful rebuke and the petition points.

PNG Attitude : Keith Jackson and Friends blog is covering developments and helping campaign to protect PNG’s cultural heritage interests. Just scroll down through the entries at

http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/

What makes this new episode worse for me is the fact that the national sacred site of the old House of Assembly/First Parliament of the nation, in downtown Port Moresby has gone. And I was the editor and on the committee for developing the design brief for the new one. The destruction of the old House of Assembly building and its replacement by a very high rise development (and a mockery as a memorial to it) only last year.

The recent HofA saga, and a bit of history, is way down the list now on my blog, https://martinfowler.com.au/2013/07/ , just scroll down to it, or go to ARCHIVES: JULY 2013 and scroll down from there.

I see are a number of serious implications and potential ramifications to this new action if it is not dealt with quickly and decisively, and if some further actions and remedies are not taken as a matter of urgency.

The first disturbing implication is that a singular person in a position of some power thinks he has the right to unilaterally override the majority on blinkered, and presumed (or deluded) ‘high moral grounds’.

The ramification from that is that it could be seen to ratify the delusions held by, and inspire more irrational actions by his ilk of fellow believers. It signals that they can go back to the hardline ‘fire and brimstone’ terrorising of their communities around the country. Dark ages again, as pointed out in the “typed” commentary.

Many former hardline preachers (at least in parts of the East Sepik) have been recently convinced by many of the young and educated people (men and women) of their communities that most elements of traditional Melanesian culture are important and are not evil. They agree that ancestral and totem carvings, origin legends and so on, are not bad in themselves —and it is mainly the bad use of sorcery to which they object now.

A rising and articulate new generation has argued the right to know, understand and embrace elements of their own cultural heritage and that much of the symbolism relates to the importance of the protection of the local environment for the health of the community. They say traditional knowledge is also important because this historical background enriches their understanding of their place within a wider genealogy and of social the control mechanisms and ethos for the greater good. It allows them to define their unique personal, local and national identity and builds their self esteem and pride in their communities.

There is more than a glimmer of new reason and pride and enjoyment in the air. It is critical to dispel any notion by a fanatical minority that the dark oppression of bigotry can be reinstated.

Now, a very important part of nation building at independence was to do with generating a sense of unity for a mass of distinct and often competing (in places waring) communities. The idea used was to seek the common essences of what it meant to be Melanesian, and though cultural means —both traditional and contemporary— to forge and identity for the nation.

This was done by such founding fathers and women of the nation as Michael Somare, Meg Taylor, Alkan Tololo, Tamo Diro, Bernard Narakobi, Bart Philemon and many others. The flowering of the National Arts School and the artists, writers, musicians of the time were a visible and popular face to the ability of tradition and modernity to work together to find bonds throughout being Melanesian together, to respect heritages and to forge modern expressions of identity and of living in a new nation. It is abundantly clear in any form of celebration anywhere within the nation, and especially on the 16th of September each year, how successful was that endeavour.

The actions at the Parliament House by the Speaker is an insult to those elders of the nation and as well to the pride of the ordinary people in their national identity.

The brief for the design of the new parliament saw that project, as was the case with the earlier design of the new Museum at Waigani (formerly housed under the House of Assembly), as needing to be a proud new symbol of identity for the new nation. The call was for a building that was modern but recognisable as from, and of Papua New Guinea replete with PNG forms and decoration. Although the process of implementing the brief was fraught (but that is another story) the building, nevertheless has become a much loved showpiece of the nation.

As with the National Museum next door, the National Art School co-ordinated the artworks for Parliament including work by new artists like Martin Morabubuna, David Lasisi and Joe Nalo among others, and by traditional village artists who were brought in to the school as artists in residence. The cohort at the Art School included playwrights and actors like Nora Vagi Brash and Arthur Jawambari and musicians like the Sanguma Band and the interactions of diverse thinkers was part of their strength. As well, the boards of the cultural institutions including, the National Cultural Council, and the Institiute of PNG Studies consisted of a ‘who’s who’ of the intellectual, administrative and political leaders of the nation at the time.

The late Martin Morabubuna, who really deserved to be honoured as a living national treasure, made an impassioned plea in July this year at a public lecture at UPNG for support for contemporary artists in PNG today as he listed the currently woeful neglect of the ideals and functions (and the built fabric) underpinning such formerly great institutions as the National Art School and the Institute of PNG Studies.

It was some carefully selected respected artists, who interacted within tithe vibrant NAS milieu in the 1970s and early 1980s, who carved the posts for the entry building of the Museum next door, and the lintel that has been destroyed at Parliament house. Their works deserve respect on a number of levels. These are heritage items of the nation and important for the stories they tell —not literally just those of the carved heads on the lintel, for example, but, of their place in the narrative of the nation itself.

Look again at the details opening this article above. These are more like idealised portraits than even ancestor faces on ant haus tambarans that I have seen —and they look like they are intentionally more universal that clan specific. The misreading of these by the Speaker show ignorance, lack of artistic awareness and reveals his bigotry and intolerance. Not good attributes for the position he holds in the most important democratic institution of the nation.

The Parliament building is universally known and respected within the nation for its uniqueness and PNG symbolism. How dare anyone take it upon themselves to singlehandedly, and against majority opinion, and in violation of the rights of others in a democracy to have contrary beliefs, vandalise this icon? to attempt to erase this history and the evidence of it that the artwork passes on in material form.

MODERN HERITAGE

What also seems to be evident here is that heritage buildings from the modern era have not been given the status that they deserve as treasures of the nation. The Parliament is a modern building as is the Museum and the High Court on either side, but they have heritage value due to the social, political and cultural and historic events of which they were key material parts and symbols each in their own way. They, and a number of earlier significant sites, have not been accorded the respect such relics would be given in most nations. They do not have adequate administrative, interpretation and statutory resources with enough authority to look after them and to promote their value within the nation and without.

The majority of PNG citizens are young, and most were born after independence. A lot of influential or recently wealthy people seem to also have developed cultural amnesia. These groups don’t really know much about the relevance of this recent but formative past.

If enough of the significant sites of the modern era are to survive for the enrichment of the experience and understanding of new generations, then their protection and promotion needs to be properly resourced and set up. Otherwise repeats of the House of Assembly, Burns Philp HQ building, the Paga Hill drama, and now this drama at the Parliament House will keep occurring.

The issue here is wider than being just a local Port Moresby thing. For example, the old House of Assembly was not just a national sacred site where the development new country was controlled, negotiated and born. But, it should also have been seen an important Australian heritage site. The new Parliament House building (yes the one being vandalised by the Speaker), was also a gift to the nation by Australia. There are many similarly important shared heritage sites all around PNG, most languishing in neglect, but most luckily undisturbed.

Australia had pride in its efforts to develop the country to the point where it could become a nation. Australians who were in the Administration, in business, or with the Commonwealth were mostly very proud of their roles. They had kids, and grandchildren. Nostalgia would bring many to visit such icons —just think of the one case where this has been celebrated and managed, the Kokoda Track.

SHARED CULTURAL HERITAGE

There is a body of shared heritage sites in the country where PNG and Australia, and countries like Germany, Japan, USA and others left material remnants and relics. These constitute a largely unrecognised and certainly un-promoted shared heritage of considerable value. It is probably about time that all these sites are given recognition, support, protection. And that their value is promoted and that respect is generated before cultural amnesia sets in and everyone looses the evidence of this richness forever.

Other Samgik Visual Arts

Just because this surprise visit was just that, a surprise showing of a whole integrated new range of cultural production, from an unexpected area (previously unpublicised, forgotten?) this has been an opportunity to introduce the PNG cultural material in a relatively inclusive way.

We can see this in material from other areas later, but for now here is some of the other material culture from Samgik that adds a bit more scope to the art featured in the previous post.

The first image shows bilums made by the women hanging off the various figures and totems of the carved lintel, ‘ticket’, of the haus tambaran at Samgik in August 2013. Obviously here, and as they are in the neighbouring Abelam cultures bilums like these are integral to the traditions, and origin legends of the Wama and their affiliated cultures.

Art on Yams

July-August is the time for yam festivals in the Abelam and other areas around Maprik. The main harvest is over and some of the prize yams are starting to shoot, so those are ready to contribute their offshoots to the new season. Prize yams are cultivated by their skilled initiated male growers to be big (almost person height) and to attain anthropomorphic shapes and are decorated appropriately for display at the festival, which has the added edge of a fertility rite atmosphere to start the new season’s plantings.

The prize yams here are shown standing in front of the haus tambaran, the usual backdrop for the festival ceremonies. At Brikiti the next day another display of yams had them laid horizontal with their headrests upright behind them. A week earlier there had been a yam festival at Milak, a village to the north of Brikiti and I had seen guys there decorating some that lay horizontal the day before the festivities. Villages that maintain some affiliation arrangements with each other around the Maprik district attend each others’ festivals, and exchanges take place as well.

Bilums

The bilums displayed on the Guest House at Samgik were made by women of the Wama cultural group and were very fine examples of these usually exquisitely designed, and well crafted works of art. The ones on the facades here are made in the plant fibre and natural dye traditional, for which the Maprik area was once very famous.

Bilums can be seen as purely utilitarian objects, but to look at them that way is to miss the point that here is displayed high aesthetic sensibility. These objects certainly are rugged and can carry objects well, but they also carry strong symbolic and ritual meanings, even to the point where they often codify the identity and ples of their makers.

Obviously for the Wama at Samgik, and certainly for the Abelam (and for the Kwoma in slightly different ways) the bilum is highly symbolic and is integral to key origin stories. Bilums feature on Abelam haus tambaran facade artwork as, what can appear to outsiders, as abstract infil decoration. But they are not included on these current Samgik facade panels. Nevertheless, bilums are displayed on the skirts to the facades here in much the same way as they are on Abelam haus tambaran fronts for events like openings and special occasions.

If you want a really good reference book with thorough explanations and including great images and even beautiful drawings of the techniques of looping involved see : Maureen MacKenzie. Androgynous Objects: string bags and gender in central New Guinea, Harwood Academic, 1991.

Pottery

The women of the Abelam, the neighbouring Wosera and other surrounding groups made pottery some of which was decorated by men who incised and painted colourful traditional images with figures and totems. The ones shown are plain forms with only surface decoration. Reputed to have died for many years, pottery seems to be making a come back from the Kwoma to some areas around Maprik. It is refreshing to see that women are keen now to have their art skills revived, and made available to the market again.

Kundu drums

This is a hand held drum made out of light wood with a snake or lizard skin membrane stretched taut to form the sounding surface which is fixed to one end. That is treated with a beeswax type resin which helps in producing a distinct resonating timbre by making parts of the acoustic skin sticky to the touch. The kundu shown here is a special, patterned, relatively solid and elaborately decorated example.

Dance and Body Art

For the performances we saw at Samgik there was mostly decorative apparel and apparatus rather than face painting applied to the dancers. Here we see skirts, arm, and ankle bands, kinds and bilums. The detail image show decorated dancing sticks carried and danced with by the women.

Art on Architecture

Samgik follows a pattern somewhere formally between their northern and eastern Abelam neighbours and their western Ilahita ones. I will look at the architecture itself later and make comparisons across groups, and hopefully across time. This is just a visual introduction to these graphic related large objects that are a cultural focus in may ways. They act as a stage and backdrop as we see in the way the dances were performed here on our visit. Normally the sort of art seen in the Wama Guest House, or its more tradition and sometimes secret versions are housed within, and in turn host initiation ceremonies. And before the initiation of festival the interior functions as a workshop-studio for the production of the artworks (the facade panels and its lintel, the sculptures and interior painted panels, maybe material for yam festivities, and so on.)

Hopefully this entry helps give an indication of the comprehensive nature of the art production proudly put on show by the associated culture groups represented at Samgik in mid 2013.

Wama Guest House

The guest house is a hybrid form with a more secular, a modern function, rather than that seen in the traditional haus tambaran. The form again is an interpretative representation of a bird form with the wings extended maybe like a hen sheltering its chicks. The head is the peak with the conical cap. Similar shaped forms housing stage/rostrum functions were seen at Ilahita in the important sacred places which are still communal gathering spaces where public meetings are held and announcements made. At Samgik this building came before the haus tambaran. It seems to me to have elements that may have been a bit of trail run before embarking on the much higher stake venture that the haus tambaran represents.

Samgik Haus Tambaran

We will look at the haus tambaran in more detail, and across cultures and time in a future entries. But here is a glimpse of the house as an object, and its painted art in detail. Part of the painted panel is here and the lintel detail is above.

Samgik New Art

Viewed early August 2013

The collection of art that we saw displayed at Samgik was quite different to most of the art of the Maprik area seen in published sources, and in real objects in various collections. The images here have been enhanced to correct problems due to very compromised light conditions and time constraints.

The culture and language groups are listed below, as far as we were told. There was too much happening and too little time to collect any of the stories associated with the works, or even to get the artists names and details.

Nevertheless, what you can see is that the most of the sculptures look like ancestor figures, male and female. There are also many smaller carved animals and birds, and an impressive snake. These appear to be clan totems and some are attached to the tall carved figures.

The images do show a very unusual art style, or representation tradition. This material is stylistically quite unusual compared to that of their famous neighbours to the north and east the Abelam. It is different again to published Wosera material to their south. And it also differs overall to the material of the Ilahita Arapesh to the west, whose work is represented with material from a Sunuhu haus tambaran (neighbours to the west of Ilahita) collected in the late 1970s by F Gerretts and held in the National Museum and Art Gallery (NMAG) in Port Moresby. There is, however, some similarity with some Ilahita art, and notably there is a new inverted heart shaped piece that was obviously done recently in concert with artists making new work at Ilahita for display at the joint Brikiti – Ilahita festival held on the 9th August 2013. More on that later. In the art on the haus tambaran front there is clear similarity to the art of the Abelam of Brikiti and Apengai.

The material in the entry room collection is more public objects, some is prosaic, and the group of objects is quite varied, indicating maybe a few different artists. The work in the inner room was generally stronger in its sense of presence, and more pieces were bigger, and the same hand or hands was evident in groups of objects.

Most of the carved and ‘painted’ timber pieces were coloured with ochres or what looked like chalk, charcoal and pastels, including some touches of pale blue, aqua and lemon. The expressions on the faces and the detail of figures looks naive at first on some, but at a second glance has power and character.

So the art here was a surprise on a number of levels. There may well be other sources and earlier collections from this culture area that maybe known in material held overseas. But, if so they must be more obscure than is the case for the Abelam, Wosera and Arapesh. The arts here seem also to be undergoing a revival of interest and skill development and pride in their cultural distinctiveness, again in spite of majority disparagement or hostility —at least that is what has been inferred. But, time and research needs to be invested to get a proper and reliable account of the cultural change issues here. Here and for most of the Maprik and surrounds!

It looks to me like this could be a new wave of art manifesting at Samgik, celebrating and telling traditional stories, but with enough remove from strict training to be exploratory, and to have a refreshing informal vitality.

———-

Now here are a few details given to us on the 8th August 2013 :

There was an opening of Wama Guest House, SAMGIK, 12th June 2012 by MP John Simon.

These guys met us and took us around — Beni Dua, Daniel Malken, Jurex Guralangu, Lawrence Francis. The big man with the Culture group badge etc was Lawrence Yupi.

The two who won best Yam prizes: Linson Toby and Jesse Kamblapi who come from the BkM culture group and the BAL clan. I think it was their group who danced at the haus tambaran.

DANCE GROUPS at SAMGIK They danced as we arrived at the Guest House
1 BAL culture group— I think they also performed in front of the haus tambaran
2 NINGALIMBI did the dance with the log
3 WAMA culture group big man culture rep – Lawrence Yupi

EXCHANGE GROUPS linked to Samgik KAMU language group. SAMGIK, NINDIGO, SARAGAKUM, NINGALIMBI (3) *same language group – Ilahita Arapesh, LAINGA*, KATNIKUM, GWELIGUM, NERIKUM

ART for SALE

In the rooms inside the Wama Guest House at Samgik we were told this information :
Closed room : All men’s house stuff (no women of the area can come in here) : the whole collection of big figures etc for sale PGK 40,000
Entry room : all the stuff PGK 30,000

Wama culture bilums were on display and for sale at the Wama guest house.
Dance groups can be hired to perform.

Samgik

Seeing a new spirit house and much art at Samgik was thrilling after knowing there has been such a long hiatus when cultural interest was not on the agenda. This was a surprise visit, sprung on us by a few guys who walked up to Brikiti, and were adamant that we really must go. There was much they wanted to show us, and that there were people waiting to show us some dances.

And this is Woma culture, so it has difference to the Abelam and others. They had 4 dance groups with distinctive performances to welcome and entertain us. There was a new guest house, which also had two art collection within. And there was a new spirit house with an impressive facade. The interior was not yet completed, but it looked like the collections in the guest house were a trial run for the artists who might then work on the interior of the spirit house.

In the end it was lucky that we were able to get in there, as the road was awful, although parts were being graded as went went through. Rain threatened while we were there and we had to get out before it hit as there was no way to negotiate such a bad road if it became slippery.

Malewai village & some history

In the Washkuk Hills area, just at the entrance to Washkuk lake near where the Sanchi River meets the great Sepik River is the village called Malewai. The guys who showed us the new house under construction were happy that visitors were interested in their attempts to pass on their material cultural cultural heritage.

It was from the Kwoma village, Malewai in about 1971, that Douglas Newton acquired a ceiling for the Primitive Art Museum NY, that is now on display in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
See below (http://goldwaterlibrary.wdfiles.com/local–files/pacific/kwoma_by_unforth.jpg):

In late 1973, Martin photographed the spirit house from which that ceiling came. But he was not told the name of the village, nor of the house, at the time. It was a quick and spontaneous visit and no informants were available. In 2011 some Kwoma artists identified the place of the 1973 house as Malewai through the presence of a garamut, slit drum, in a photo.

We called in there on the 7th August 2013 and met the guys in charge of building a new spirit house, see photo. They confirmed that we were in the village I visited in 1973, and pointed out the old site where the former house used to be, and that indeed Douglas (Newton) had collected the ceiling from it. The men had immediately made a new one they said —and that must be the one in my photos.

However, the most interesting thing that they told us was that a group of people had just returned from the village of Bangwis, the one made famous by Ross Bowden. There they had helped celebrate the opening of a new spirit house. That opening was on Friday 2nd August. Our efforts to get to Bangwis were thwarted due to time constraints, and to the amount of misinformation given by Bangwis and other Kwoma who should have (or maybe did) know. One Tongwinjamb guy earlier said that he thought this event was planned, but his view was vehemently contradicted by others who had closer contact with Bangwis!

Abelam to Kwoma and back – preview

Preview of Abelam to Kwoma and back – August 2013

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.

Frederick Rodney Fowler archival material

FRF archival material. The late Frederick Rodney Fowler went to New Guinea in 1941 arriving in Rabaul by ship just as a dramatic, but not very destructive volcanic eruption was beginning. He was an ANGAU medical orderly during WW2 and in the clean-up process afterwards. Rod Fowler was Martin’s father, and he left Martin a significant collection of such material in his estate.

He had small pencil and watercolour sketchbooks, and a small 35mm camera with him during these years. These are a few samples from the many art studies he did at that time.

Material Culture and EcoTourism Project

Abelam—Ilahita—Wosera—Kwoma by road, on foot, and by canoe
25 July to 15 August 2013
Martin Fowler, Justin Francis – Team leaders
Harris Bein – East Sepik liaison & logistics

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!