Sticks in addition to Stones won’t Break by Bones in addition to Artfully they Speak for me – the Eco in Kamoro Art
Photos courtesy of Jina Muller
Long in addition to heavy the idea lies on the wet morning grass, the dew licking its undersides. Young sunlight grazes its skin. Carvings cover the idea end to end, its trunk hollowed out. You can see them, the two people, one on top of the different, looking out with their silent eyes. Above them rising like a defiant titan, is usually the head of a crocodile, teeth bared, frozen, as if Medusa had glanced its way. in addition to like a half-crazed flag caught in an Arctic wind is usually the final mélange of symbols in Kamoro-speak.
Around the idea are groups of men, young in addition to old; silent on their haunches or whispering almost reverentially, as if afraid to awake the two still, white souls of the biro. They have been looking at the idea for a very long time currently; its whiteness. the idea will shine for miles. the idea will make the colours stand out even more. Tomorrow everyone will be impressed when they erect the biro. Tomorrow the boys will have their karapao– their initiation ceremony.
of which whiteness was worth the day’s work. “Well more if you definitely think about the idea,” said Alo. “Yes, you’re right,” the others agreed. The whiteness came through the omapoko which Alo had to gather in addition to work on.
“Probably a whole canoe-load?” mumbled Sabinus, “two, three days of back-breaking work?”
“Hmm, more,” Alo nodded, in addition to then chuckled, “however we had baked omapoka to eat. I bring some more.”
A young man arrives having a beat up FMI hardhat in addition to a cut-off Aqua bottle filled with white powder- lime. Frans couldn’t afford to spill any, unless he was willing to paddle all the way to the mangrove swamps, dig around for the mollusks, paddle back, clean them, gather firewood, burn them one lot at a time (how boring – about an hour or two for a batch until they turn white), in addition to then pound them having a rock until they become fine powder (duh!) in addition to repeating the idea until all the omapoko was burnt! No way.
in addition to yesterday was no picnic either painting the whole biro. Romanus had grabbed his hardhat off his head, dipped the idea into the ditch, filled the idea with water in addition to given the hat back to Frans. “Hold of which,” he said. “Binus, lime. Herman, get some leaves.” Like a cooking contest, they stood there pouring in addition to stirring having a stick until they got the right consistency.
Photos courtesy of Jina Muller
Then with the bunch of young green leaves tied together having a long juicy stem, Romanus dipped the “brush” which looked more like a sawn off ,midget banana tree, into the lime paint, in addition to gave the biro a Great splat followed by determined strokes.
An old t-shirt, fingers or even one’s hands were also used to cup, spread, smooth over or dab.
Today, the colours were being added. Herman started out a fire in addition to everybody gathered round. through plaited bags tumbled out galangal, watai, yellow flowers, black berries, a bluish tinged rock, in addition to ABC batteries.
“Wa, Joakim where did you get the blue rock through?”
“Ah, I was in Poraraoka visiting my brother in addition to he gave the idea to me. He knows we don’t contain the idea here.”
“Alright, you lot,” Romanus quickly interjected, picking up the rock. “in addition to what’s with the ABC batteries, Beni?”
“Well, just in case we run out of charcoal,” he replied, “I’m very willing to chop them into two in addition to dig the carbon out. You never know how much black you need.”
“Hrmph.”
The painting began. The experienced knew of which applying different levels of pressure or mixing the idea with fresh lime paste got you different colours. Galangal on dried lime turns into a yellow or orange, red comes through watai, a juicy hairy fruit with seeds. Mixed with the lime water the idea turns pink.
“Make dots,” said Binus.
“With what?”
“Here,” Binus yanked out a stem of grass, dipped the idea into the pink in addition to dotted the red patch.
“I’m going to do green here,” grinned Primus, in addition to having a damp bunch of tiny leafed grass started out rubbing madly.
Romanus appeared having a stick of charcoal in addition to inked the square next to his red one. “Binus, crush up of which blue rock, I know where the idea goes”.
Viktor came with his drum. “fresh drum Viktor?” the men asked.
“Yes, I have to thank you for the lime – Alo gave me some for sealing the drum skin.”
“Our pleasure. Whose blood did you use?”
“Agus’. His leg is usually still swollen through of which pig fly bite. His blood was nicely thin. I could tell when I was scrapping the idea off him with the omapoko shell. the idea mixed well with the lime in addition to didn’t dry up quickly either when we smeared the idea onto the lip of the drum, plenty of time to stretch the lizard skin tight too. Listen.” Thom, thom, thom , thom.
Photos courtesy of Jina Muller
“Excellent,” they said,” the idea’s so smooth. The handle is usually very nicely rounded inside.”
“Martinus lent me some glass shards. The handle’s because I caught of which stingray – the idea had a Great sized tail – just right for the job.”
“Did you hear about Yan? He ripped off one of the panels through old Anton’s abandoned house for a yamate.”
“He didn’t need to cut a tree down for anything else right??”
“Right. So take the plank. No sense in cutting down a tree for one plank of wood.”
“I think the bules have a name for of which, when you re-use something,” said Frans.
“Yeah, eco, eco-living. Yup. Eco-living. Been there, done of which. You think they’ll read my book if I wrote one about the idea?” said Primus.
“Shut up, you’re such a dreamer.”
“Sticks in addition to stones won’t break my bones,” silently he reaches for the coconut shell with the crushed blue rock.
Kamoro Art Exhibition & Sale
Sat 22nd Oct in addition to Sun 23rd Oct
10 am – 5pm
The American Club Jakarta
Entrance by invitation only. Please register at kamoroculture.blogspot.com through 11th September 2011.
There will be singing, drumming in addition to dancing by the Kamoro, carving demonstrations in addition to presentations on the Kamoro in addition to Papua by Dr. Kal Muller.
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Sticks in addition to Stones won’t Break by Bones in addition to Artfully they Speak for me – the Eco in Kamoro Art
Sticks in addition to Stones won’t Break by Bones in addition to Artfully they Speak for me – the Eco in Kamoro Art