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

24 №1 NEIGHBOUR INTRODUCTION as the iconic Mai mask) with those from new religions and laws introduced during the period of Australian administration. Likewise, tokatokoi headdresses from Tolai, used in performances honouring spiritual leadership as part of the 2011 National Mask Festival in Kokopo, substitute ancestor figures with the Virgin Mary. ANOTHER VIEW: PARTNERSHIPS The last half century is a particular focus for QAGOMA in terms of its relationship with Papua New Guinea. The first works from Papua New Guinea to enter the Collection arrived in 1972, and holdings have slowly grown since that time, largely through generous gifts from Australians with long-term connections to the country, as well as through a more recent, focused program of acquisitions. 19 ‘No.1 Neighbour’ is structured around these acquisitions and the Gallery’s commitment to presenting work by contemporary Papua New Guinean artists through platforms such as the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT), a series of exhibitions initiated in 1993. The contemporary focus of the exhibition is also shaped by a desire to find ways of engaging in dialogues with the peoples and cultures of Papua New Guinea. In the introduction to Art in Oceania: A New History 2012, authors Nicholas Thomas and Peter Brunt state: Arguments about art in Oceania have acquired new energy in part because Pacific Islanders — scholars, curators, cultural activists and artists, as well as community members concerned to document their own traditions — are no longer excluded from the debate. 20 In 2012, the process of commissioning major installations from Abelam and Kwoma artists for ‘The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT7) highlighted the importance of collaboration and reciprocity. A trip to the East Sepik in 2011 with Papua New Guinea-born, co-curator Martin Fowler and Michael O’Sullivan, QAGOMA Senior Exhibition Designer, revealed that the spectacular, ephemeral koromb and korumbo (spirit houses) were still being made and used by Abelam and Kwoma communities. In considering these structures for inclusion in APT7, questions began to emerge for the Gallery — namely, how would structures created in a customary context and which are deeply embedded in daily life translate to the space of a contemporary art triennial, otherwise populated with mixed media installations, digital media and other art genres more familiar to Western audiences. From the outset, it was clear that the only way to successfully navigate this terrain was to actively involve the community. Formal meetings with elders and artists in the Kwoma men’s house, and with cultural leaders in Apengai, facilitated not only the selection of