Strength in Papua-New Guinea’s culture

Mana (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 8, 13 October 1977, Page 2

Strength in Papua-New Guinea’s culture

by

Tigi Ness

should have had it own crea-

Georgina Kirby, National Secretary of the N.Z. Maori Artists & Writers Society spent six weeks during JuneJuly in Papua New Guinea. She was awarded a grant by the Queen Elizabeth Arts Council to study administration and training programmes of the National Arts Society. The NAS was established in 1972 with a stated aim of fostering and developing the arts in Papua New Guinea. Mrs Kirby felt that an indigenous arts centre was needed in N.Z. because of the strength and impact of the Contemporary Maori Art being expresssed throughout the whole country within the last few years.

"After a month in PNG, I know our Contemporary Maori Art has a vast and deep bearing on the future of our N.Z. Society, and given the right environment of an unstructured creative art centre, not centred around western style art and teaching, but based on our Maori heritage, we could move into completely new thoughts and patterns in all art forms. N.Z.

tive art 20 years ago.”

The NAS’s involvement in PNG has sponsored 60 students on a three year course with all necessary materials and equipment provided. There are no pre-requisites required for entry, although during July the directors were determining attainment for diplomas for the future of students, so that they may go on to University, Training College, fulltime artists, etc. In such an environment, formal teaching is kept to a minimum and art is regarded as an activity and an attitude of mind and not a discipline to be learned. Traditional skills mingle with modern technology and are thus developed into a form of contempory expression, which in this case, is genuinely PNG. A good example of this development in the Arts field was shown by Akis, a PNG artist. Akis worked as an interpreter for an anthropologist and while working with this person, he would try to identify each plant and animal by sketching them, and from this evolved his own style in pen and ink drawings which could never by sidetracked

by western influences. He created many variants of his ideas relying on the use of pattern and texture and his inventive imagination created variety in his basic shapes. He drew on traditional shield designs and ceremonial face painting for his main source of creative expression. Sales of his artwork enabled him to pay off his Bride price debt to his wife’s family. PNG has left its mark on Georgina Kirby. She was very impressed. "PNG is truly a country singing with a creative force that percolates right through the country, its life and its people. The diversity and richness of PNG cultures is exciting and I admire their resourcefulness. Their festivals are the physical manifestations of *a number of unique cultures, each of which have an integrated cosmology, value system and material culture. For the people living in these societies, each aspect of the culture reinforced each other aspect giving life its meaning and the group its distinctive identity. For the lasting quality of any culture, is not its style and form, but its strength and power.”