In the late 1970s, in the newly independent Papua New Guinea, Mathias Kauage and his wife, Elizabeth (Elisabet), led the new contemporary art movement, which portrayed ideas of nationhood and technological advancement. Later works also addressed aspects of life in the country’s rapidly urbanized cities and towns, such as the onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. At the same time, they painted subjects focusing on cultural lifeways in the country. Mathias and Elizabeth’s circle of artists working in their style grew to include an adopted son, Apo Hugo, and a brother-in-law, John Siune, as well as their children Willey, Andrew, John, Michael, and Christopher, who continue their father’s artistic legacy today as professional painters, along with Elizabeth.