Malagan display and mask
New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea. c. 20th century C.E. Wood, pigment, fiber, and shell
New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea. c. 20th century C.E. Wood, pigment, fiber, and shell
To serve as visual part of ceremony in which the dead are celebrated and assisted in their transition to the spiritual realm, the ceremonies length can be from months to years so sturdy materials for elaborate structures can withstand long time frame.
Context
- Malagan is a cycle of rituals of the people in in the northern coast of New Ireland.
- Malagan express many complex religious and philosophical ideas.
- They are principally concerned with honoring and dismissing the dead, but they also act as affirmation of the identity of clan groups, and negotiate the transmission of rights to land.
- Malagan sculptures were made to be used on a single occasion and then destroyed.
- Often used at funeral sites
- Bid farewell to the dead and celebrate the vibrancy of the living
- Can be anywhere from a couple days to a few years
- They are symbolic of many important subjects, including identity, kinship, gender, death, and the spirit world
- Often include representations of fish and birds of identifiable species, alluding both to specific myths and the animal's natural characteristics
- Figure was collected by Hugh Hastings Romilly, Deputy Commissioner for the Western Pacific while he was on a tour of New Ireland in 1882-83
- It was one a group of carvings made to be displayed at a particular malagan ritual.
- They were originally standing in a carved canoe, which unfortunately Romilly did not collect
- The ownership of Malagan objects is similar to the modern notion of copyright
- When a piece is bought, the seller surrenders the right to use that particular Malagan style, the form in which it is made, and even the accompanying rites.
- This stimulates production, as more elaborate variations are made to replace the ones that have been sold.
Content:
- The masks can represent a number of things.
- Dead ancestors
- Ges (the spiritual double of an individual)
- Or the various bush spirits associated with the area
- The base of this figure is depicted a rock cod, a species which as it grows older changes gender from male to female. The rock cod features in an important myth of the founding of the first social group, or clan, in this area; thus the figure also alludes to the identity of that clan group.
Form:
- Different masks made of the same materials and pigment
- high wood, vegetable fiber, pigment, and shell
- found in north coast of New Ireland
- c. 1882-83 CE
Function:
- Commonly used at funeral sites
- Send a farewell off to the dead
- Celebrate the achievements and life of the dead
- Also used as a sort of copyright
- When someone buys a piece, the seller gives up his right to use that particular style again.
- This stimulates vibration and variance in the malagan displays and masks.
- Sending off the malagan was very important
- Sculptures are treated delicately
- The 'souls' of the dead are said to be transferred to these sculptures
- Each sculpture represents a specific individual and his/her relationship with ancestors, family members and clan totems.
- Represents the persons soul/spirit.
- Not a self portrait
- Sculptures are burned once the souls leave the malagan sculptures
Themes:
- Funerary / Funeral Traditions, Death
- Family
- Ritual objects of belief
- Sacred, Profane
Cross Cultural Connections-
- dutch influence as they discovered the island of Papa New Guinea
- nineteen different languages are spoken on the island based off of other influence
- maybe masks relate to a native way of life?
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/the-pacific/a/malangan
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/nwir/hd_nwir.htm
