Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Purago Marabe and Martin Morububuna, October 2009 Jolika Fellows

Community mural in the Kimball Gallery

Community Mural: Legend of Ilakavetega

By Martin Morububuna
Once upon a time there lived Ilakavetega and her two granddaughters. Every day the granddaughters went out to the beach to fetch saltwater for the grandmother. The Boi bird would come to the girls and would sit on the rock and talk to them, and would even say things about their grandmother.

One day the grandmother decided with the two girls to trap the bird and catch it. They set the trap on the rock and the bird sat on it and got caught. The two girls carried the bird home. The chief of the village heard that the bird been caught. He requested the head of the bird to make his magic. The grandmother did not give the head to the chief. The chief ordered his messengers to bring the old woman to him. The chief's magician killed the grandmother and got married to the granddaughters and lived happily ever after.

Artists' Statement:
From Paradise to Where??

Papua New Guinea is a very diverse and multilingual developing country. In the unique Melanesian way, we began as a nation of structured cultures and communities. We had chiefs, elders, warriors, gardeners, healers, herbsmen and wisemen. People conducted their everyday routines according to specific expectations and rules of their communities, which varied from village to village.

Every issue and decision—even every penalty—was decided according to those rules. Apart from the hardships of warfare and their nomadic lives, people generally lived abundant, peaceful, happy, hard-working lives... [more]

Posted by: Andrew Fox | October 21 at 1:26:54 PM
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