Eastern Highlands Cultural centre

The Eastern Highlands Cultural Centre in Kainantu, Eastern Highlands, has been quietly involved in producing quality arts and crafts for the tourism and local markets over the years.
It also buys a lot of works from local artists in and around the Kainantu area.
This is despite the fact that it is basically self-supporting, despite coming under the Eastern Highlands provincial government, and has been doing so for the last 25 years.
“We make pottery, rugs from local sheep skin, as well as do screen printing,” said supervisor Remi Yabuki.
“We also buy arts and crafts from outsiders and resell.”
Business was booming during the 1990s and before that, but has slowed down since because of the law and order problem, which inhibits visitors to Kainantu.
Because of this, Mr Yabuki said they bring their arts and crafts to the PNG Coffee Festival & Trade Fair, Goroka Show and Morobe Show to sell.
Of course, there are the buyers who stop at Kainantu, but these have slowed down to a trickle.
“In the 1990s, and before that, we used to do a lot of sales,” he said.
“But after 2000, because of law and order problems along the road (Highlands Highway), sales have dropped.
“We look at expatriates to do most of our buying.
“We are self-sufficient and do not depend on the provincial government for wages, power bills and others.”
The Eastern Highlands Cultural Centre employs four potters, three wavers, and three sales assistants.
They had reason to be happy at the 2006PNG Coffee Festival & Trade Fair in Goroka, when they received a runner-up prize of K600 from the Small Business Development Corporation for best small business.

Samuel Luguna

Samuel Luguna, 34, from Obweria village in Losuia, Trobriand Islands, Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea, is one of the leading contemporary artists in the country.

He has been painting since 1990 when he enrolled at the Faculty of Creative Arts at the University of Papua New Guinea.

After graduation in 1993, he was awarded a scholarship for six months to Singapore, where he continued painting.

While in Singapore, he also studied for an Advanced Diploma in Fine Arts through the Royal Institute of Technology in Melbourne.

At the end of the programme in Singapore, he staged his first one-man exhibition in that city.

Mr Luguna worked for the Faculty of Creative Arts at the University of Papua New Guinea from 1995 up to 1998.

In 1996, he took part in the 7th South Pacific Festival of Arts in Western Samoa where his works were featured in the 1st South Pacific Contemporary Arts Exhibition.

In 1998, Mr Luguna staged another successful one-man exhibition in Port Moresby.

In 1999, he returned to his beloved Milne Bay Province and taught expressive arts at the Cameron Secondary School in provincial capital, Alotau.

He resigned from teaching at the beginning of this year to pursue painting as a fulltime career.

Earlier this year, the British Museum engaged Mr Luguna to do two paintings in London based on Milne Bay culture, something of which he is very proud of.

“To have some of my works with the British Museum in London and the Frankfurt Museum in Germany gives me a lot of confidence in what I’m doing as a painter,” he says.

Mr Luguna’s works capture the rich culture and traditions of his Milne Bay Province

Contact details:

Samuel Luguna
P.O. Box 907, Alotau, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea
Email: s_luguna@yahoo.com.au

Raymond Manavi

Raymond Manavi, 34, from Kaminabit village in the Angoram area of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, describes himself as a “struggling artist”.

“I mainly produce tribal extracts based on traditional art,” he says.

“I’ve been painting since 1992.

“I mainly display my works at the Windjammer Hotel in Wewak.

“If there are buyers, I make money, if not, I go home empty-handed.

“Sales, otherwise, are very poor.

“I’m one of the poor artists of Wewak town.

“I have no other job, apart from painting.

“I really want to establish a market for my paintings.”

Mr Manavi’s father was a master carver at Passam National High School outside Wewak, with all his children following his steps as artists.

Jerry Jones Eme

Jerry Jones Eme, from Kaminabit village in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea, is another talented artist struggling to gain recognition.

“I started painting at home,” he recalls.

“At high school, I wanted to become an electronics technician.”

His love for art prevailed, and in 1986, he enrolled at the National Arts School in Port Moresby.

Mr Eme was into studying textiles in 1987 when he left and returned to his hometown of Wewak, East Sepik Province, where he joined local company Wirui Press as a layout artist.”

“I left and went back home to Kaminabit village in 1994,” he continues.

“I tried to get into painting but there was not so much work to sell.

“I also tried to get into t-shirts, prints, and screen-printing.”

In 1999, an Australian visitor, Terry Gallagher, was so impressed with Mr Eme’s paintings in Wewak that he arranged for him to go to Australia.

Mr Eme spent two weeks in Austalia and did an exhibition of his works in Melbourne.

Mr Gallagher continued to be an agent for Mr Eme in Australia, selling his paintings and looking for more opportunitiesd, until he went missing during the 2004 Asian tsunami.

Mr Eme has slipped in obscurity since then, apart from the selling of a big painting in Madang in 2003.

His works are mostly contemporary and abstract paintings.

Taba Silau

Taba Silau, 51, now the director of the Madang Visitors Bureau in the resort town of Madang in Papua New Guinea continues to be one of the country’s leading artists.

He, however, only exhibits sporadically.

In 1975, he was awarded a scholarship to the National Arts School in Port Moresby after completing Grades 11 and 12 at Kerevat National High School outside Rabaul.

There, he organised the school’s first art club and presented his first solo exhibition in 1976.

Disliking the restrictions of school regulations, he resigned from the school in 1977, struggling for the next seven years to survive as a freelance artist until 1984, when he was appointed to the post of Madang cultural officer, working at the Madang Museum and Cultural Centre.

Here, he painted two murals that portrayed the legendary history and cultural revitalisation of the peoples of Madang Province.

Silau remained in the post until the late 1980s, when a severe illness forced him to stop working.

When he recovered, he returned to painting, exhibiting a striking collection of his work at the Papua New Guinea National Museum ad Art Gallery in 1994.

With great expressive power, Silau’s imagery focuses on two primary themes: first the legends and exploits of the traditional peoples and heroes of Madang, which are the foundation of traditional knowledge and world view; second, bitter commentary on what he calls “the confusions caused by modernisation and capitalism” instigated by colonialism.

Silau was the first Papua New Guinean artist to use the figure of the urban beggar to symbolise the breakdown of traditional social life.

Similarly, his bleak images of Irian Jaya criticise the national government for foreign policies that he believes abandons ancient ties to “Melanesian brothers” facing genocide in Indonesia.

These paintings and their associated poems thus symbolise wider political issues that engage the problem of what values are central to the core constructs of Melanesian cultural identity.

In his quest to motivate Papua New Guineans to think about what is happening to their culture, Silau does not shirk the role of social critic.

In his early painting Silau employed a somber palette, ranging from traditional earth tones to bitter citric yellow.

Moreover, the faces of his figures have exaggerated features with brooding staring eyes.

However, there can also be a lyrical pathos, even sweetness, to images depicting traditional subjects.

Recently, Silau’s paintings suggest that his colours are also brighter and that a once-heavy paint texture has lightened to suggest a new transparency of form.

Larry Santana

Larry Santana, now teaching visual arts Tusbab High School in the Madang Province of Papua New Guinea, is recognised as one of the country’s most-talented artists.

His works have been widely exhibited both in Papua New Guinea and abroad.

Santana grew up in Madang after his father found work as a mechanic.

His father’s premature death made life in this urban environment very precarious.

While his mother struggled as a domestic to feed her four children, Larry, the eldest, collected discarded bottles to supplement the family’s meager resources and help pay for school fees.

Despite much hardship, Santana finished high school and won admission to Goroka Technical College.

Obtaining a diploma graphics, he migrated to Port Moresby to work as an artist.

Living in the city was not easy for Santana and his family.

In 1988, he lost his job and home when the advertising firm he worked for went bankrupt.

With no unemployment benefits from the state, he was forced to build himself a shack from materials gleaned from the city dump and to scavenge for discarded food.

The hunger and loss of self-worth experienced during those lean months are recorded in his painting are recorded in his painting, Self-Portrait: Suffering and Pain at the Six-Mile Dump.

In 1993, disaster struck again when a fire destroyed Santana’s apartment and all his possessions.

While Santana’s finely-executed drawings show the influence of his graphic training, the intensity and decorative aspects of his images reflect the advice of an expatriate teacher: to always heed the inspiration of his feelings and to follow his Papua New Guinea sense of design.

Santana’s work is often expressionistic and stylised.

Through powerful symbols – for example, the hand of tradition, fire, tears or high-rise buildings – his subjects express deeper meanings about the values of Melanesian life and reflect contemporary problems of “culture clash”.

Santana says he has found much more inspiration since moving from the noisy capital city of Port Moresby to quite Madang.

“I’m still keeping in touch with the outside world,” he says.

“Madang is very quite.

“Otherwise, it’s much better in Madang because it’s much more inspirational.

“In Port Moresby, my art was not really from within the soul.”

Santana still sells a lot of his work to people from other countries.

Memories of the Biyang Ngayam Cultural Festival

A singsing group dancing on a very high platform?

And members of another jumping into the live embers of a fire, picking them up, and chewing the still glowing coals with their mouths?

No, this wasn’t a scene from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!

The Popof Village Tree Dancers from the Nawaeb District actually performed on the steps of a very high platform.

And the Danga Village Fire Eaters from the Bulolo District actually ate fire, much to the disbelief of the crowd.

From arts and crafts, singsing groups, and theatre groups to beautiful young women from all parts of the province, the inaugural Morobe Biang Ngayam Festival had it all.

The Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium in Lae was chock-a-block from May 24 to 27, 2006, as thousands from all corners of Papua New Guinea’s most-populous province converged there.

That year the Morobe Provincial Government and the people of Morobe Province embarked on this second cultural show to promote, preserve and showcase the rich and diverse culture of the province.

A first cultural festival was held at the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium in 1998 but went into hibernation for the last seven years simply because of the “no funds” excuse.

The project – aptly named Biyang Ngayam Festival – was collaboration between the Tourism, Culture and Sports Division of the Provincial Administration; educational institutions; the private sector; and the local community.

Biyang Ngayam is a fusion of two of the province’s major languages – Kote and Yabim – and means “good day” or “something good”.

The four-day event was jam-packed with activities ranging from arts and crafts displays, singsing groups, theatre groups, Miss Morobe contest, cultural exhibits, cultural displays and cultural shows.

It was the perfect opportunity to learn, network and talk with the local community about arts, artifacts and culturally-related products.

I was in Lae on Friday May 26 and Saturday May 27, 2006, for that very reason – to collect information and photographs on Morobe arts and crafts for a forthcoming international online exposition in Chinese Taipei later that year – and wasn’t disappointed.

And, being a Morobean who had been away from home for a long time, I naturally got caught up in all the enthusiasm down at the stadium.

The theme of the 2006 festival was “Culture is the People” and the honour was attributed to the people whose lifestyle shapes the culture of the Morobean society.

The four-day festival showcased the importance of the lifestyle of the Morobeans, which forms the very core of Morobe Province’s culture.

It aimed to achieve the following objectives:
Showcase the cultural heritage of Morobe Province through dances/singsing groups, artifacts/handicrafts, and promote culture through theatrical developments;
Revive the cultural tradition and lifestyle of the Morobeans; and
Promote and establish understanding among the Morobe communities to maintain, protect and preserve its unique cultures.

“The unique cultural heritage of Morobe Province is a pot of gold and if given the highest attention, will generate enormous employment and revenue for the province in years to come,” said veteran Morobe Administrator Manasupe Zurenuoc.

“This event must be seen in the context that it is a great substitute for the non-renewable sector of the economy.”

The event was opened by Governor General Grand Chief Sir Paulias Matane on May 24, 2006, and closed by Deputy Parliament Speaker and Kabwum MP Bob Dadae on May 27, 2006.

Prominent Lae businessman Fred Cook, a strong advocate of culture and tourism in the province, was chairman of the organizing committee.

“As far as I’m concerned, it was a wonderful success,” Mr Cook said.

“I don’t think that anywhere else in Papua New Guinea do we have such a diverse group of people.”

“I think that all the districts did a marvellous job in bringing the various dance groups to take part in the activities.

“I think they should all be commended for their efforts.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’ll be recommending to the provincial government that the festival should be an annual event.

“My reason is that if we want to have tourists coming, we have to have dates set every year.”

The climax was the crowning of the Miss Morobe Queen and the judges truly had an unenviable task on their hands, given the bevy of village beauties from all over the province.

Needless to say, it really came down to the wire, and the winner was Anne Kupu, a young village girl from Barang village on Siassi Island.

Runner-up was Ruth Jethro from Butibam village in Lae and second runner-up was Augusta Hagai from Morobe Patrol Post.

And then the carnival was over and all eyes were glued to the next one in 2007.