oceania review

oceania review

What's in oceania

micronesia, polynesia, melanesia

Rock Paintings

mimi figures, x-ray paintings

Mimi figures

primordial spirits on rock paintings (paintings were done by the spirits themselves)

are not harmful or scary to the people

whandjina figure on rock painting

control forces like weather and human behavior

don't have mouths because they could overwhelm the land and cause rain (so powerful)

british ship on rocks

represents the British arrival, james cook, joseph banks, george stubbs(they create paintings) such as dingo and kangaroo

x ray painting

see the inside and outside of animals at the same time

no western perspective painting style

dreamtime

spiritual world, the otherworld created by the supernatural beings and their ancestors, created by the mims and whandjina

as an artist you can only depict dreamtime stories that come down from your family

Thomas Bock

paints image of black girl(mathina) who drank herself to death at 17

he is part of the penal colony

becomes the first professional portrait artist

hes british

Paul Foelsche

interested in photography

photographed arborigany people

killed arboriginal people

german officer

treated arboriginal people as props

measure biological inferiority of individuals (lady who has boobs and longs legs, measurement)

Albert Namatjira

(arboriginal person who was colonized in a missionary) asked his pastor for paints and paper and became an artist at 32 , pupil of reginald rex barnaby( british guy), painted scenes with watercolor such as mountains and landscapes (did european paintings and western style),

earned money and had exhibitions from paintings, he couldn't own land as an arboriginal and was put in jail for giving arboriginal people alcohol, he later died from drinking

David Malangi

created bark painting and images with patterns , Bank of australia used his panting on bank notes

dream time paintings belief

arboriginal people believed that the ancestors gave them the stories just to transmit the information

Geoffrey Bardon

was a part of the western desert art movement (dot painting school), taught people art

Dot Paintings

tell sacred stories so important that it was then put on airplane,

mural-famous at dot painting school

Nick Namarari Tjapaltjarri

made the pattern-like -dot painting that depicts the view of australia from the sky

also a teacher at dot painting school

Woman dot painter: Emily Kame

woman artist who painted dot paintings

Arboriginal memorial

commemorates indigenous australians who lost their lives

there are dot paintings and art in the logs

whats the purpose of the spirit masks in asmat culture?

helped the deceased move on to safan: the realm of the ancestors

avoid having roaming souls in the village

make the souls visible through the masks and give them a feast and hopefully send the deceased into safan=energy of the soul is no longer in the village to disrupt the village

What do the asmat culture practice alot?

ancestor worship

What were the spirit masks made out of of the asmat culture?

Sago palm

Where were the spirit masks kept?

saved and kept in community houses

What is the origin story of the asmat culture

ancestor figure: fumeripits=first wood carver

What does Asmat mean?

Tree people, tree represents the human body , fruits represent the human head

How were the furmeripits brought to life?

through the beat of the drum

what are wowipits?

master wood carvers=tasked to create the most important carvings

What does the preying mantis represent on the drum?

female praying mantis rips the male head off once they mate= which represents the head hunting characteristic of the asmat culture

why are the shields important in the asmat culture

protect from war, shields were also given ancestor names which allowed ancestors to give you more protection

Micheal Rockefeller

studied asmat culture and went missing but he has not been found

Theories: 1. he drowned after falling from canoe

2. attacked by animal

3. eaten by cannibals

4. still living amongst the asmat culture

Why do people think Micheal Rockefeller was killed by asmat culture?

every death needs to be avenged

some dutch europeans killed some asmat and the asmat needed to take a head and they think they took Micheal Rockefellers head

What are bis poles?

keep the souls away from the most important part of the village when somebody dies and once they avenge by taking someones head then the bis poles are no longer needed

Where do the bis poles come from?

they have symbols= ancestors, canoe, animals (hornbill +flying fox)=eat the fruit of trees=fruit represent head

come from the man grove tree

they have a chemen=male part

Emak Cem

spirit canoe or soul ship

reflects the initiation of boys to adult hood

boys crawl over turtle in the middle of the canoe

return of Maori heads/skulls

they didn’t want the skulls back because they believe bringing the skull back brings problems to the community

What religion do the Asmat culture follow now?

christianity

Who did the textiles in Asmat culture

women

Polynesia

new zealand, dutch arrive and provide first evidence of the maori people

Ngatoro-i-rangi

priest who brought his people to lake region

What is mana

sacred power that enables artists to be creative and to be imbue works of art with that power

Marae

meeting place for maori life

Tapu

strongest force in Maori life, rules to keep mana in place

exterior of tapu=domain of the god of war (scary)

Interior of Tapu

calm and peaceful

has the god of rongo (agriculture + peacful pursuits)

Structure of interior of Tapu

heart beam that is connected to ancestor=keeps the ridge pole up

ridge pole=represents the spine of the ancestor

rafters=ribs of the ancestor

popo=wooden structure of ancestors mixed with tuku tuku=woven mats

Tuku tuku=woven mats made by women

Tiki

creator god and name of the first person he made, it’s a wooden or stone sculpture

Moko

all over face=men

only on mouth and forehead=women

Trading

Maori and Europeans trade

Tattoes

seen on face

Cultural apropiation

gordon walters: used maori designs and symbols and making art out of them but aren’t connected to the meaning they held for the maori

God of wind art

made by cliff whiting

made of wood

god of winds trying to tackle the wind

tin bull art

polynesin issue of canned food and recycling issue

Hawaii

in polynesia

King Kamehameha

took mana from enemies head and gathered it himself

What is Mana

comes from the gods and must be protected

War god of hawaii

patron of the king, athletic built figure sculpted out of wood, hes ready for battle, angry face

Lano feathered head

covered in fur, has dogs teeth, human hair(connects to mana and ancestors) scary face

Feathered coat in hawaii

worn as someone prepares for battle, shows kings hierarchy

Necklace made of human hair in hawaii

made of whale bone, and hair which connects to ancestors

Fall of the kingdom of hawaii

Queen Lili’uokalani, her rule was under threat and became part of the US

wears european clothing and hawaiin clothing to speak to both audiences

Art Cloth

made by women, sacred activity , they would chant while making them

Fiji mats

were given to queen elizabeth

Tattoes

people chant while peeople get tattoed

Rapanui

easter island,

what does neke neke mean in easter island, rapanui?

it means walking without legs, when the big rock head figures moved on their own

Bird man cult in Rapanui

men would race eachother going down a steep rock and into the ocean and into collect an egg from the top mountain and then swim back to gain control for a year of the island.

Dream time

In Aboriginal belief, a time during which mythic creator beings created the land, animals, and people, and established the social order. Creation stories.

Moai

The monolithic statues carved on Rapa Nui.

Who are Pakeha?

White New Zealanders

Arnham Land

Aboriginal Australia

Melanesia

Papa New Guinea, Asmat=tree people

Micronesia

small islands

Polynesia

Maori (New Zealand), Hawaii, Rapa Nui/ Easter Island

What is the story of Mathinna (girl in red dress painting)

Thomas Bocke paints image of Mathinaa (indigenous girl)

she was given to govenor and his wife as a trophy

she was abandoned and then drank herself to death

Hermannsburg Mission Painters

Albert Namatjira painted missionaries

Bark Painting

David Malangi=dollar dave

bark painting was put on the dollar bank note in australia

Honey Ant Dreaming

mural painting by pintupi tribesmen on the outer wall where geoffrey Bardon taught.

Maori meeting houses represent what?

ancestor’s body