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

21 INTRODUCTION №1 NEIGHBOUR At around half a billion dollars a year, Australia gives more aid to PNG than to any other country — yet Australians seem to know little or care less about the country. The 2015 Lowy Institute Poll revealed, for example, that 61 per cent of Australians could not identify Peter O’Neill, PNG’s Prime Minister. How many Australians realise that PNG was once an Australian colony? 3 It is a question like this that provides a framework for the exhibition ‘No.1 Neighbour: Art in Papua New Guinea 1966–2016’, and which informs this publication. The exhibition does not aim to provide a comprehensive overview of art created in Papua New Guinea during the 1966–2016 half-century. Rather, it seeks to introduce Australian audiences to artworks that expand our knowledge of a shared history. It also helps develop a more nuanced understanding of the dynamic contemporary culture of our nearest neighbour. Six broad themes introduce audiences to this culture: the continuing dynamism and strength of custom, the importance of sing-sings (performance) and the role of cultural ‘shows’ as platforms for creating contemporary identities, the rich realm of storytelling and its translation into image, tensions between tradition and modernity, the vibrancy and strength of women’s voices, and the contemporary initiation processes involved in ‘making’ men. A SHARED HISTORY Australia’s governance of Papua (1906–75) and the mandated territory of New Guinea (1921–75) 4 is often characterised as an era of extraordinary cultural and economic change, during which time areas isolated from the wider world were opened up to external influences. Longstanding traditions of tribal tensions and warfare were calmed, Christianity took hold and large-scale agriculture was introduced. Travel and exchange between disparate cultural groups intensified, and the major battles of two world wars on Papua New Guinean soil introduced new ideas and new ways, transforming the lives of many Papua New Guineans. Numerous Australians participated in these events and accompanying change as administrators, kiaps (patrol officers), nurses, teachers, artists, soldiers, agriculturalists, collectors and missionaries. Their contributions — both positive and negative — continue to be acknowledged by artists, such as in the dramatic Baining Kavat mask c.1994 emblazoned with the Australian coat of arms on its forehead, and the Abelam Kiap (patrol officer) sculpture, both featured in the exhibition. They are also evident in Simon Gende’s painting No 1 Kiap blong Australia Mr Jim Taylor l brukim bush long Highlands Papua Niugini 1999, documenting the celebrated Australian patrol officer Jim Taylor’s eventful walks in the 1930s, which opened the previously unexplored Western Highlands Province up to change. 5 Many Australians have travelled home with artefacts, narratives, images and memories from Papua New Guinea, enriching the museum collections and the oral and written histories of this nation. Others, like Jim Taylor, stayed or returned repeatedly, inspired by the culture and passionately committed to a profession of providing service or maintaining relationships. 6 The ongoing relationships that a number of individuals have maintained with Papua New Guinea have enriched my understanding of the country, its history and people, and they inform the ‘No.1 Neighbour’ project. Architects Martin Fowler and David Gole, teachers Marilyn Havini, Keith Stebbins and Helen and Paul Dennett, anthropologist Anthony Crawford, musician David Bridie, development officer Elizabeth Cox, journalist Sean Dorney and diplomat Ian Kemish are just some of the many Australians who inspire with their ongoing dedication to Papua New Guinea. Of course, Papua New Guineans themselves have reflected on the colonial period of their history and it is their insight and perspective that this exhibition and publication profiles. As poet Lynda Thomas observed in 1971, although social, economic and political development was the aim of the Australian administration, many Papua New Guineans experienced this as oppression: The master is like a mountain the higher it gets, the colder. But master, we are the rocks beneath on which you stand. Without us You are no longer a mountain How long shall we carry your weight? 7 During the period of the Australian administration and trusteeship, Papua New Guineans not only began to imagine themselves in relation to a vastly expanded world, but they responded to opportunities to advance conversations and relationships, and agitated for greater control over their own affairs. Koivi-Aua (Tommy Kabu) (1922–69) from the Purari Delta, for example, led a nationalistic movement of ‘New Men’ intent on transforming the traditional Hiri trade of sago for pots between the Gulf people and the Motuans into a kompani (company) based on monetary exchange. 8 Specially commissioned for the exhibition, the a Bit na Ta (The source of the sea) project engages with this period from the perspective of the similarly politically active Tolai people of East New Britain Province. Songs written collaboratively by celebrated Tolai musician UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST Kavat mask c.1994