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

86 №1 NEIGHBOUR WHICH WAY? David Lasisi left his village in New Ireland Province as an adolescent, and spent his early adult years studying in the vibrant, post-independence environment of Port Moresby. Of the tensions he experienced trying to reconcile these two worlds, Lasisi eloquently wrote: In the loneliness of my staring Confusion attacked me and swept my mind away The beach started laughing And the breeze did sway Into my entangled soul Well I have been trapped easily Accepting alienated gifts And slowly forgetting my society Like a log being adrift. 1 Lasisi’s New Ireland is revered for its malagan culture. Museum collections around the world hold spectacular masks and sculptures carved as part of the complex malagan mortuary rites performed across New Ireland and nearby Tabar Island. These masks and sculptures are known as malagan images. With individual names, they are protected for the exclusive use of clan elders, who alone are allowed to ‘tell’ or describe the images so they can be carved for use in ceremonial rites. Lasisi is the name of one of these masks. It belongs to a clan, a place and a culture. An artwork featuring this mask — alongside a photograph of the artist’s own face — appeared as the opening image in Searching , a catalogue launched in association with Lasisi’s first solo exhibition in 1976. Produced as prints in a variety of colours, My name 1976 articulates Lasisi’s search for identity and his struggle to relate his village traditions to the rapidly changing society of Port Moresby. The work presents a series of dualities: Lasisi’s young face is not only mirrored by the malagan mask whose name he bears, but is split in two, one half revealing his facial features, the other falling into darkness. The Lasisi mask appears to be more fully articulated as an image, its black tongue drawing us into the dark space surrounding the artist’s face. What is important here is what we cannot see. THE TWO WORLDS OF DAVID LASISI RUTH M c DOUGALL