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Solomon Islands
Ceremonial Bowl, 1931
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| The
carvers of Owa Riki are famous for their large ritual
bowls, like this one in the form of a bonito canoe.
Personal bowls such as this and larger communal bowls
are used in commemorative feasts honoring selected deceased
relatives and personal tutelary deities. The inlay comes
from either the nautilus shell or the conus shell, depending
on the thickness. It is held in place by putty made
from oily local fruit. The bowl is painted with a resin-based
black stain. The patron cannot pay the carver in currency
because that would offend the tutelary deity to whom
the bowl will be dedicated. The larger communal bowls
are kept in canoe houses with the sacred bonito canoes. |
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Wosera
people (Maprik region, Middle Sepik River, Papua New
Guinea)
Dance Paddle, not dated
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| The
Maprik highlands north of the Middle Sepik River region
are home to some of the most brilliantly painted of
all New Guinea art. Maprik art is focused on the House
Tambaran where spirits dwell during the initiation rites
of the Yam Cult. During this period the initiates experience
an overwhelming onslaught of visual images and sounds,
the essence of the ancestors. They feel themselves disintegrating
and multiplying and merging with the ancestral spirits.
The most common images are human heads, with yellow
butterfly pattern across the upper face and wearing
a tall flame-shaped headdress, emerging three-dimensionally
from a flat, board-like background. Another favorite
motif is rows of squatting figures, the nggwalndu-puti,
ancestors as creative beings. This form of dance paddle
is gripped by putting the hand through the opening at
the base. |
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Nukuma
people (Upper Sepik River, Papua New Guinea)
Ceremonial Head [Yina], ca. 1965
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| A
Yina is a head, either carved of wood or occasionally
made of clay, that is associated with a clan. Each one
is named; some are male, some female. The motif on the
post and on the back of the head refers to the Yina’s
name. Each clan owns several; pairs are regarded as brothers
and sisters. They are associated with lakes in which the
images are submerged from time to time. The heads characteristically
have a broad black band painted across the face and little
round, projecting eyes. The top of the head is usually
furnished with a backward projecting hook in the form
of a bird’s head. |
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Iban
Dayak people (Borneo)
Ritual Textile [Pua], 20th century
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| Headhunting
underlies virtually all Dayak ritual activities. Taking
of a head is the badge of maturity and prestige for Dayak
males. Embodied in headhunting is the concept that death
leads to life and engenders fertility in humans and in
crops as well. The weaving of a pua ritual cloth is referred
to as ‘the women’s warpath” and is comparable
in prestige and magical power to the men’s taking
of heads. Women receive the designs from spirits in dreams
and only older, experienced women have the spiritual knowledge
to protect them while weaving these powerful images. A
young woman learns from an older woman who must weave
the most dangerous parts of the girls’ cloth until
she is experienced enough to protect herself. Once completed,
a pua serves a variety of purposes connected with the
protection of babies, children, home and family. Pua were
also used to receive and wrap the severed heads brought
back from raids by the women’s husbands. Finally,
pua were used to cover the bodies of the dead, continuing
the life/death cycle. The ikat technique used to weave
pua involves resist dyeing bundles of warp threads in
a sequence producing a rich brownish-red and indigo-based
blue color together with the pale natural color of the
cotton thread itself. Rituals and the use of charms accompany
the process. The chief source of inspiration for the designs
is Kumang, an upper world deity who epitomizes all that
is desirable in Iban womanhood. |
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