Paperskin: barkcloth across the Pacific - Queensland Art Gallery

Mount lamington. its eruption in 1951, the resulting deaths of 4000 of their Orokaivian
neighbours and their own dislocation is interpreted as a consequence of the war on the
Kokoda Trail which, among other horrors, grounded the dead soldiers’ restless spirits.
some Omie blamed the eruption on the persistence of customary practices over those
of Christianity, and proceeded to erase many of them. As a consequence, initiation
ceremonies and the ensuing tattooing of clan insignia on the body ceased and designs
were instead transposed to barkcloth. Artist Nerry Keme has said, ‘i paint on barkcloth
the designs that were on my grandparents’ bodies’. 7 These materialise on the nioje as
three small concentric circles, repeated in several configurations across the textile, and
were once confined to the area around the navels of her ancestors. in reviewing this
dynamic transposition, Modjeska refers to these as ‘double skin’ designs.
When speaking about barkcloth, the allusion to marked skin is particularly evocative
and has been used in connection with other Pacific practices. Anthropologist Alfred
Gell noted that the Marquesans called their full-body tattoos pahu tiki, which translates
as ‘wrapping in images’. researching samoan tattooing practices, he later concluded
that they functioned as a second skin — wrapping, protecting and containing the
person’s essence. The similarity of motifs from samoan tattoos to their siapo (barkcloth)
is evident in works from the collection of Wellington’s Museum of New Zealand Te Papa
Tongarewa, such as a 1940s example composed of horizontal rows of triangles. 8 Many
Pacific peoples, most notably Tongans and Fijians, also wrap their bodies in barkcloth
for important ceremonies. like tattooing, the cloth confers an entire matrix of meaning
on the bearer. A drawing from 1877 shows a Fijian chief layered head to toe in masi with
an accompanying description around that time, claiming that over 200 metres of cloth
could be used for this purpose.
There are many accounts of barkcloth being treated as an extension of the body — an
extension of the skin. samoans would wrap barkcloth around the bride, and the material
would then be ritually stained by the first intercourse. 9 Fijians rubbed turmeric on their
The Tui Nadrau, dressed in masi
for ceremonial presentation.
Drawn from life by Theodor
Kleinschmidt, Natuatuacoko,
October, 1877 / Fiji Museum
Collection
Masi (detail) unknown
Fiji
Barkcloth, dye / 94.5 x 127.5cm /
Collection: Museum of New
Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
masi as well as on the bodies of a new mother and baby, binding them indistinguishably
in this sweet-smelling, warm, earthy spice. likewise, the dead were also impregnated
with turmeric and laid upon masi in their graves. 10 in 1920s Collingwood bay, Papua New
Guinean women used to crawl around the village beneath a barkcloth when mourning
their husbands, the cloth isolating them from sight and contact. 11
Archaeologists Chris ballard and Meredith Wilson have posited a relationship between
Melanesian rock art designs and those on tapa, specifically in mortuary contexts. The
motifs, they argue, transfer between the two media and also appear in tattoos, carvings
and engravings. 12 As ballard has said:
Most of the rock art sites with tapa motifs are burial sites, with human remains in cliff
niches or caves, and there are lots of instances of tapa being used to cover the bones,
as a form of surrogate skin. 13
Other scholars have also pointed to the link between designs found on ancient
Pacific lapita pottery, tattooing and barkcloths, alluding to a complex aesthetic that is
revitalised and used in a number of different art forms. 14 This ubiquitous transference
of motifs can be understood as a method of communication (particularly as the Pacific
region had no written language prior to european contact), and its continued use
suggests an audience for whom these symbols represent a particular sense of being
and place.
For the baining people of the mountainous Gazelle Peninsula of New britain, Papua
New Guinea, the creation of barkcloth masks enacts an intricate relationship with both
their everyday agricultural subsistence and that of the spirits, particularly those of the
recently departed. The ten baining masks in ‘Paperskin’ represent only a portion of the
sculptures being made today, and include works from throughout the peninsula. 15 The
masks are worn by men, with rare exceptions, such as the two Siviritki with fringes and
accompanying fibre skirts that camouflage the dancer. each of the ten masks — except
14 15