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

26 №1 NEIGHBOUR INTRODUCTION koromb honours the artists’ ongoing relationship with the animal, plant and spiritual world of their homeland, and is imbued with the strong connections established with Gallery staff involved in its creation. Underneath the koromb’s broad ceiling, interviews with the artists, recorded both in Brisbane and the village, extend the outreach of the work. This allows the artists to speak to audiences to encourage an awareness of their culture to help secure their future. This architectural form draws on cultural kastom, addressing the social aspirations of present-day Kwoma via the public space of the art gallery. The commissioned project a Bit na Ta (The source of the sea) enacts similar processes of participation and agency. Drawing on the longstanding relationship involving David Bridie and George Telek, and the wider Tolai community, the project takes place predominantly in East New Britain, where artists and community members are collecting oral histories to be transformed into image and song to share with Australian audiences. Rather than a linear historical narrative, a Bit na Ta immerses audiences in a distinctly Tolai cultural space: the haunting sounds of Telek’s voice, supported by the Sekut Matupit Choir and the Moab, Gilnata and Amidel Tribe Stringbands, translate the rhythms of Tolai life. Community elders and young Tolai filmmakers and songsters are also involved in the collaboration, ensuring a cross-generational evocation of history. 24 Australian-based Tolai artist Lisa Hilli forms part of the team working on a Bit na Ta . Ongoing connections to community feature in the work of Hilli as well as that of a number of artists and curators working in Australia. Curators Ruth Choulai and Sana Balai and artists Julia Mage’au Gray, Lisa Hilli, Taloi Havini and Eric Bridgeman regularly research their culture by working directly with objects in historical museum collections. They also engage family and friends in the development of work, which not only re-energises customary practices and introduces new ideas and mediums of expression, but also actively returns images and knowledge to their original owners. Bougainville artist and curator Taloi Havini engages with cultural heritage and community development projects that provide sought-after opportunities for young people in Bougainville and Australia. She also creates experimental ceramic installations, and photographic and video works, often in collaboration with other cultural practitioners and community members. Of particular significance to her practice is ‘the intergenerational transmission of Indigenous knowledge systems’, 25 be it through ongoing critical engagement with the history and legacy of colonialism and the 1988–1998 conflict over Bougainville’s mineral resources, or the research and renewal of her Hakö people’s material cultural heritage. Against the backdrop of Bougainville’s independence, Havini’s Beroana (shell money) 2015–16 explores ideas of wealth, channelling the memory of her activist father Moses, who asserted the importance of local systems and connections to place for the economic future and wellbeing of his people. The generation and distribution of wealth continues to be one of the greatest challenges facing Papua New Guinea. The post-independence relationship between Papua New Guinea and Australia is often characterised by the unequal distribution of wealth and considerable miscommunication. ‘No.1 Neighbour: Art in Papua New Guinea 1966–2016’ invites us to acknowledge our colonial past in Papua New Guinea, and in accepting this invitation we are compelled to participate in a new conversation and partnership, one that recognises the vibrancy, richness and strength of our number one neighbour. LISA HILLI Damien Kereku, Vunalagir, Vunatarai, Tolai people 2015 Image courtesy: The artist