Paradise Q& a: andrew moutu
The director of the National Museum and Art Gallery in Port Moresby says a new exhibition n will display PNG art works that have never been shown in public previously.
Q: What will people see at the
Built on Culture Exhibition: the Art of Papua New Guinea?
A: The exhibition celebrates 40 years of PNG Independence and will have 100 outstanding works from the museum’s collection of 80,000 objects. There will be stone sculptures from thousands of y years agog and stunning works of art made in recent cent years. It will include paintings and prints by Mathias Kauage, age, Jakupa Ako and Timothy Akis, who, at about the time e of PNG’s Independence, forged a new style of art fusing traditional tional stories with new forms of expression.
Q: What do you think is the most amazing item on show?
A: A Simbai headdress. It is not old, , but to make this headdress you must collect thousands sands of beetles. These iridescent, green insect ct heads are then carefully placed in a spiral around round this melon-like hat. The piece is finished hed off with cus cus fur bands and cockatootoo and cassowary feathers.
Q: How old are some of the items?
A: Two of the oldest are stone sculptures made some 5000 years ago in the Highlands. One is a birdshaped pestle, which is the hand-held d part of a grinding set.
Q: How have these magnificent items come into the possession of the museum?
A: Some of the collections were acquired quired as early as 1886. In the 1950s there was an official collection sanctioned by the he government to gather artefacts from different parts of PNG. Some other items comee in as gifts and confiscations of illegal exports. orts. The bulk is collected by the museum, or through hrough collaborations with other organisations. ns.
Q: How are items sourced these days?
A: The collec collection is still growing through a variety of ways. The mu museum, for example, worked with Exxon Mobil on archa archaeological surveys in advance of the LNG pipeline projec project from the Highlands to the Gulf district. The survey une unearthed a significant number of objects,
including stones tools from 30,000 years ago.
Q: Is it possible to see the items outside of this exhibition?
A: Almost all of the objects in this exhibition hav have never been on public display before. With th the assistance of the Australian Government, in repairing the museum building and r renovating some galleries, there will be o opportunities for further displays.
Q: When does the exhibition start and finish?
A:A It opens on September 16 and will be on displaydisp until 2016. ■
The NationalN Museum and Art Gallery is next to Parliam Parliament House on Independence Drive, Port Moresby.Mor It is open 9am–3pm Monday to Friday, closedcl on Saturday, and open on Sunday, 1–3pm. SeeS museumpng.gov.pg. The Built on Culture exhibition is supported by the AustralianAu Government through the Australian aid program.