The Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia, 1996 : Report

Michael Mel and Anna Mel presented a joint installation-performance event entitled Pies Name/ (Our place) . This work involved various activities including the ritualisation of their space with the growing of plants, the application of body decoration and the use of a number of shields and large headdresses. Both artists have been actively involved with the traditional performances of their region whilst maintaining direct contact with Western art and culture . The artists state: Our role as contemporary artists in Papua New Guinea is to be able to draw from our rich heritage and enunciate and revitalise these processes and practices today. I ndeed in this way we will be able to maintain our traditions, teach our young people, and bring an awareness to people around the world of our varied and in many ways contrasting art experiences. Pies Name/ (Our place) has strong links with the ceremonial performance and body­ focused art of the Hagen area, Western H ighlands Province, PNG. PNG is a country of 750 indigenous languages and many different indigenous cultural traditions. This work aims to show the dynamic nature of PNG traditional culture and contemporary society. The Pies Name/ performance was presented on three consequent days, 27, 28 and 29 September, in an especially ritualised space , in the Gallery courtyard . This performance emphasised the importance of the process of art-making in PNG culture, as opposed to art as an object or image. Eric Natuoivi works as an art educator at the Vanuatu Teachers College. In the early 1 990s, while undertaking his Masters of Education in Creative Art at the University of New South Wales, he began to work extensively with ceramics . Conflict over equality comprises two round ceramic pots and incorporates wooden elements and pig tusks. The work is a metaphor for the changing position of women in Vanuatu's contemporary society as the artist explains in his statement: The pots are representative of the society itself while the wooden stems and attached pig's tusks are symbolic of power structures. Possession of numerous pig tusks traditionally illustrated the high chiefly powers of the bearers. The tusks are bound to the stems with coconut fibre , coconuts are a traditional source of building material. The lower limbs of the piece show the traditional and subservient position of women while upper ones reflect the contemporary situation of emerging and statutory equality. 30