Bulletin 389 - Art as contact with ancestors
Visual arts of the Kamoro and Asmat of Western Papua
| Author | Pauline van der Zee |
|---|---|
| Series | Bulletins of the Royal Tropical Institute |
| ISBN | 9789068326444 |
| Language | English |
| Binding | Paperback |
| Pages | pages |
| Published | 2009 |
| Price | € 25.00 |
Description
Questions about meanings of non-western art keep intriguing western artobservers. There are no ready-made and unambiguous answers to be given – every interpretation is a partial one. For the artist himself interpretation is not always an issue, he follows the traditions of his ancestors. In some cases meanings belong to culturally concealed knowledge, not to be shared with outsiders. Yet sometimes a bit of this knowledge is disclosed.
Adriaan Gerbrands (1967), drawing on the work of Ref. Gerard Zegwaard, a profound scholar of Asmat culture, and on his own extensive fieldwork, discovered that many Asmat designs can be interpreted as symbols of headhunting ideology. Gerbrands focuses on what he calls the ‘headhunting-nexus’; a nexus of related forms which can all be connected to headhunting practices and their meaning in the given cultural context. In fact many more interpretations are possible...
Art as contact with the ancestors is a recent comparative research focusing on related yet different artistic expressions of the Asmat and the neighbouring Kamoro. The analysis is based on an investigation of the Asmat and Kamoro collections at the Tropenmuseum Amsterdam. The approach taken here emphasizes relationships between art, rituals and mythology. Artifacts perform in rituals. These rituals, according to native beliefs, were introduced by mythical heroes. Combining cultural information embedded in myths and rituals with an investigation of various design elements and comparing Asmat and Kamoro data, results in innovative interpretations resonating art’s ambiguity.
Author
Pauline van der Zee studied Art History at Ghent University. She passed
with distinction in 1993. In 2005 she successfully defended her thesis Art as
contact with the ancestors. The visual arts of the Kamoro and Asmat of Western
Papua. She teaches Oceanic Arts and works as keeper of the Ethnographical
Collections of Ghent University.
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