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

40 №1 NEIGHBOUR KASTOM The isolated Kwoma community of Tongwinjamb is located on a tributary of the Sepik, one of Papua New Guinea’s largest rivers. Coming from the river, one approaches Tongwinjamb through a series of shallow lakes, moving quickly across broad expanses of water littered with flowering waterlilies in the wet season, or very carefully through a maze of narrow inlets lined with wild sugar cane in the dry. Alternatively, you can walk for three days, down from the ranges, through dense forest, as the Kwoma did when they first occupied the area. When Gallery staff visited Tongwinjamb in 2011, there were impressive koromb spirit houses in two of the four village hamlets, with a ruin and the carved bones of a new house erected in the third. A number of missions have been active in Tongwinjamb, and while a large open building acts as a church for the village’s Catholic followers, the koromb are the most elaborately decorated architectural structures. Kwoma artist Kevin Apsepa has described the koromb as resembling a parliament house style of building: ‘They are the special house in the village for talking about laws, about problems, for talking about culture, about bride- price and compensation, about development, about kastom and maintaining kastom’. 1 Primarily used by men for discussion and ceremony, initiated Kwoma men also spend their spare time relaxing and listening to music under the expansive shade of the broad roof of the koromb. This roof is decorated on the inside with hundreds of individual panels painted on the spathe of sago palm — striking designs in white, red and yellow on a black ground. While designs are repeated, each panel is a separate work and, when lashed together, they create a rich and dynamic visual experience. Specially concealed chambers between the ceiling’s main structural beams house ritual objects, such as ancestral figures, masks and paraphernalia, all stored away from the eyes of the uninitiated. The upright posts, which carry the weight of the building, are carved with figures, spirits and clan stories. Commissioned by the Gallery for ‘The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT7), the koromb was created by members of Guisemb (sea eagle), Wanyi (cassowary), Humikwa (bird of paradise) and Tek (dog) clans from Tongwinjamb, and the neighbouring village of Mino. The artists — Anton Waiawas, Rex Maukos, Terry Pakiey, Kevin Apsepa, Nelson Makamoi, Simon Goiyap and Jamie Jimok — spent time in Brisbane in 2012 painting and carving, and then returned to help install the completed structure for the opening of APT7. Created using non-traditional materials and incorporating panels demonstrating more figurative painting styles, this koromb tells the stories of the primary ancestor (sikiyawas) figures Yena, Minja and Nogwi and the Kwoma clans. As we look up at the ceiling, we see designs that reference the beautiful cicatrisation markings older Kwoma women receive as part of their initiation rites. 2 They also reference designs, such as those once painted on shields lashed to the front of canoes heading out for battle, or a shooting star heralding the death of an important village man, and figurative reworkings of designs linked to clan totems, such as the Ap tok (rooster) or the Washia (crocodile). Elaborately carved from heavy ironwood and featuring significant imagery and stories central to Kwoma creation stories, the posts required a strict adherence to cultural protocols during construction. As elder Anton Waiawas commented, ‘there is spirit in Brisbane . . . it [the koromb] has the spirit just like the village’ 3 — a sentiment reflecting the continued value Kwoma artists place on their culture and laws. KWOMA KOROMB RUTH M c DOUGALL 1 Kevin Apsepa, interview with Johan Gabrielsson [ABC Radio National], Tongwinjamb, July 2012. 2 Cicatrisation, or scarification, refers to the formation of scar tissue from cutting, scratching, etching, burning or branding the skin for the purposes of permanent body modification. 3 Anton Waiawas, interview with Johan Gabrielsson [ABC Radio National], Tongwinjamb, July 2012. PP.42–3 KWOMA ARTS Koromb (spirit house) (detail) 2012 Installation view of the elaborately carved and painted ironwood posts from Kwoma Arts’ Koromb (Spirit house) 2012, APT7, GOMA, November 2012 / Photograph: Mark Sherwood