Vanuatu Sculptors
Chief Michel Marakon | Vanuatu b.c.1950 | Mague ne hiwir (ranking black palm) grade 9 c.1980 | Carved black palm with synthetic polymer paint | 257 x 44 x 50cm | Purchased 2008. The Queensland Government's Gallery of Modern Art Acquisitions Fund | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
The Queensland Art Gallery has recently acquired a magnificent collection of Guardian for tabou house, Temar sculptures, Mague rite figures and slit drums from Ambrym Island, Vanuatu. Geographically isolated, the north of the island is considered an area where kastom (customary government, law and religion) has been strongly retained. These sculptures are representative of one of the most important forms of art making in Vanuatu and are made from breadfruit, ferns and local fibres. The mague sculptures play a central role within the contemporary articulation of kastom in North Ambrym. Ambrymese society is structured around chiefs who rise through a series of grades. Each rise in rank is marked by a ceremony and the creation of a sculpture, and each work is unique, based on the chief’s social position at the time. The slit drums are used in the ceremonies, and the temar sculptures are created as memorials to ancestor spirits and represent the strength, dynamism and vital nature of Ambrymese culture. Powerful, bold and expressive of a rich artistic tradition, this collection of sculptures reflects and represents the taboos guiding the ni-Vanuatu kastom of North Ambrym. Although created using customary practices, these works also demonstrate the dynamic nature of Ambrymese culture as it responds to contemporary issues and influences. An eagerness to communicate the importance of Ambrymese culture, and thus maintain it, has resulted in outsiders being given access to these rare works.
