Touchstones of Culture
Some cultural artefacts or events become touchstones of a culture. The elaborate masks prepared for participation in the Fire Dance Ceremonies of the Central Baining in East New Britain, Papua …
OAS Journal | Online
The Baining – A Night to Remember Part 2
Baining collection with field notes and photographs from East New Britain, continued from last issue. By Harold Gallasch Years of witnessing the Engini fire dance ceremonies of the Central Baining have made …
Murlapaka – A Kaurna Touchstone for the Art Gallery of South Australia
by Jim Elmslie At times, the landing page of the website of the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) features an extremely rare and culturally significant shield which also now …
Dr Dolly Guise PhD (1942 – 2022)
by Chris Boylan with the input of Dolly Guise’s family Dolly Guise, who graduated as Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) first female PhD in anthropology, lived an extraordinary life. Just as …
Adrienne Kaeppler (1935 – 2022)
Adrienne L. Kaeppler – an inspiring journey of discovery into Tongan culture, art, society By Mary Lyn Fonau Eminent scholar and great friend of Tonga, Adrienne L. Kaeppler died in …
Eric Coote (1941 – 2022)
Personal reflections from Crispin Howarth Eric and I first met when he visited Melbourne around 2001 or 2002. We met on Chapel Street and over lunch we spoke of nothing …
Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala
by Margaret Cassidy This recent exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria shows the works of eleven Yolŋu women artists. The works combine traditional fine lined detail on bark with …
ADORNED by nature: Adornment, exchange & myth in the South Seas
Wolfgang Grulke, 2022, At One Communications, United Kingdom. Reviewed by Rebecca Conway, curator ethnography Macleay Collections, Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney Wolfgang Grulke has applied his passion, collection, …
Personal Encounters
Personal experiences and personal passions are a common theme in this edition. Everyone who attended his fascinating lecture for the Oceanic Art Society in October 2021, would be aware of …
The APT10 Experience
Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) until 25 April 2022 Reviewed by Krisztina Turza APT10 Objective The highly anticipated 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10) is …
Tattooed History: The Story of Mokomokai
2021, 180 pages, Robert K. Paterson, 5 continents www.fivecontinents.com Reviewed by Crispin Howarth Every once in a while, a publication comes along which deep dives into a specific Pacific subject. …
Pacific Views
Photography gallery, Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney. Until 24 July 2022. Reviewed by Bill Rathmell and Margaret Cassidy Time flies and passes, and only our death manages to …
Balgo: The Creative Country
2021, 396 pages, John Carty, UWA Publishing Crawley WA Review by Margaret Cassidy While in my final term break of my undergraduate degree in Art History in 1986 I visited …
At the intersection of ancient and contemporary
This edition of the Journal includes articles about the early encounters between European missionaries and Aboriginal Australians in Central Australia and European anthropologists and people from the Torres Strait and …
Sydney Oceanic Art Fair – SAOF 2021
by Bill Rathmell The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions lifted in Sydney in time for SOAF 2021 to be held, complete with masks and vaccination checks at the National Art School on …
When plastic becomes sacred, George Nuku’s Bottled Ocean project
By Garance Nyssen On 14 July 2019, in the port district of the Gabut in La Rochelle, south-western France, George Nuku was hurrying to finish a large whale made from …
Hermannsburg: the Barossa Connection
By Sally Goers Fox This recent exhibition in the Barossa Regional Gallery in Tanunda, South Australia highlights the longstanding relationships and reciprocity between the Barossa Valley and the Hermannsburg/Ntaria community …
Pacific artists respond to Matisse
Matisse Alive exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales 23 Oct 2021 – 3 April 2022 Review by Margaret Cassidy Artist projects from around and across the Pacific, …
The Agile Art World
Being agile and pivoting are words long associated with innovation and the tech world. However, they are now commonly being used in the art world to describe the quick responses …
Massim canoes in the Milne Bay Province,Papua New Guinea
by David Payne The traditional canoes of the Massim region of the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) are colourful, stylish, and sophisticated. These traditional wooden canoes are …
Man Who Cannot Die – Phantom Shields of the New Guinea Highlands – Book launch talk
Chris Boylan These shields are from the New Guinea Highlands and a major feature is their colour. This is very much part of the New Guinea tradition to have colourful …
Man Who Cannot Die – Phantom Shields of the New Guinea Highlands
2021, 296 pages, Edited by Jonathan Fogel, with contributions from Chris Boylan, Bruce Cree, Hubert Langmann, Kevin Patrick, and Jessica Lindsey Phillips. Sydney & Toronto: Boylan and Phillips. Reviewed by Noelle …
Georgina Beier 1938 – 2021
By Keith Jackson Georgina Beier, called the ‘founding mother’ of contemporary art in Papua New Guinea, died in Sydney on Sunday 11 July 2021 aged 82. Her husband, Ulli Beier …
The Whole Picture
Image: George Nuku, 2021, The red wall, lithographs of the Atlas du voyage de l’Astrolabe, reworked and polystyrene frame at Musée Hèbre Rochefort, France. Photograph: Clémentine Débrosse. 2020, 304 pages, Alice Procter, Cassell Books, …