No.1 Neighbour: Art in Papua New Guinea 1956-2016

14 №1 NEIGHBOUR FOREWORD FOREWORD CHRIS SAINES, cnzm DIRECTOR, QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY | GALLERY OF MODERN ART Australia has strong historical ties to Papua New Guinea, and yet our closest neighbour remains a place of mystery to many Australians. The exhibition ‘No.1 Neighbour: Art in Papua New Guinea 1966–2016’ hopes to redress this in some way. From the late nineteenth century, Australian governments recognised the strategic value of the territory between Australia and Asia. Papua came under administration from 1906 and the mandated territory of New Guinea joined it in 1921. They were formally governed by Australia until Papua New Guinea’s independence in 1975. Australians saw active combat there in both world wars, with the battle of the Kokoda Track between Japanese and Allied forces in 1942 indelibly marking our national identity. Today, student exchanges and mining and aid projects continue to see large numbers of Australians working in Papua New Guinea. At the Queensland Art Gallery, contemporary Papua New Guinean works by Mathias Kauage and Joe Nalo were included in ‘The First Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT1) in 1993. At the same time, eminent statesman, the late Bernard Narokobi wrote on the development of contemporary art in Papua New Guinea for a Gallery publication, Tradition and Change , 1 while artist and academic Michael Mel made an important contribution as part of the curatorial team for the second and third Triennials in 1996 and 1999. Narokobi observed that ‘the emergence of contemporary Papua New Guinea art came about as a result of an improvisation and combination of old images, traditional media and modern tools and technology’, and noted that the introduction of art into secondary education, following World War Two, was a watershed. 2 It was followed by the establishment of the National Arts School in the 1970s, from which stemmed much of the practice we see in this exhibition. A new generation of Papua New Guinean artists, and a much broader range of practice, featured prominently in recent Triennials (APT7 in 2012 and APT8 in 2015). We were delighted to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Papua New Guinean sovereignty last year at the Gallery of Modern Art, and we are now proud to present an extensive survey of art from the country. The hope is that ‘No.1 Neighbour’ may inform our understanding of our most proximate neighbour, a short journey across the Torres Strait. The works in the exhibition encompass the breadth of Papua New Guinea’s sprawling geography and the extraordinary diversity of its cultural expression, giving us insight into the history of contact, and the ongoing strength of kastom (customary law, religion and government). Featuring over 100 works, ‘No.1 Neighbour’ includes major Collection works, such as the Kwoma spirit house installation from APT7 and performance objects from New Britain. Seminal prints and paintings from the period of independence by David Lasisi, Mathias Kauage, Simon Nowep and Jakupa Ako are joined by the work of pioneering women artists, such as Mary Gole and Wendi Choulai. There are also new works by Ruki Fame and Australian-born Eric Bridgeman. Together, they express ideas of performance and cultural ‘shows’, the translation of storytelling into image, tradition versus modernity, women’s voices and male initiatory processes. The immersive installation a Bit na Ta (The source of the sea) has been commissioned to explore the history of the Tolai people of East New Britain — with significant input frommusicians David Bridie and George Telek. The Gallery’s Curator of Pacific Art, Ruth McDougall has a real passion for Papua New Guinea. ‘No.1 Neighbour’ owes its curatorial strength and visual coherence to her resolute fieldwork, conducted over many years of travel to major centres and remote villages. Her work has greatly expanded our knowledge of our nations’ shared histories, and I acknowledge her invaluable contribution to this exhibition. TIABE Helicopter 1968