I traveled to West Papua for three weeks last month from 06 April until 27 April. My travels took me through Timika for several days and then on to Agats, where I spent the majority of my time in Papua. The purpose of the trip was originally defined as that of packing and shipping of a great number of objects belonging to the Bishop Alphonse Sowada, Ursula Konrad and myself, along with a few others who had left things at Agats in my care. These objects span all the way back to very early collections of the Bishop, who has spent 40 years in Asmat as an anthropologist and Catholic Bishop, up to the numerous objects collected by several people from the 18th annual Festival of Asmat Culture and Woodcarving Auction last October.
It was only after my arrival there, by AMA flight shared with Ursula and Mr. Willy Koen, that I realized my fate was to be captured by Ursula and held captive in the Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress for days on end. As it turned out, Ursula had been handed the responsibility by the Bishop to carry out the requirements outlined in a recent grant from the Ford Foundation in preparing a catalog of the objects at the Museum. She had worked diligently for months, but this had gleaned only a large array of photographs of the objects and a first draft of the textual component prepared in part by herself and with the help of Kal Muller. The purpose of my capture by Ursula was to assist in completing the textual descriptions of 600-odd items in English, so that Willy Koen could then translate them lot into Bahasa Indonesia.
We really did spend most daylight hours closeted in the Museum, along with whatever additional hours we could count on to have electric service for lights. It was really a huge honor to work so closely with Ursula and the Bishop. I have long referred to Ursula as "Ibu Guru" my Lady Teacher, and in fact, I owe much of what I know of the Asmat to her continual coaching and willingness to share all that she has learned. The Bishop Alphonse Sowada, an anthropologist as well as Catholic Bishop, has been in Asmat for 40 years and is the founder of the Museum. It is he who originally employed the well known and often quoted Tobias Schneebaum to assist with the early catalog and sketches at the Museum. Ursula meanwhile, has traveled with her husband Gunter to Papua for nearly 30 years. Together, these two represent a knowledge base that far exceeds all of the other bits and pieces of knowledge spread throughout the entire world. Indeed, much of what is written and studied finds its genesis in the compilations of knowledge gained by the Bishop and his own most diligent student, Ursula.
So my chance to work so closely with these two for several weeks was a real chance of a lifetime. To me, it was like gaining a scholarship to the most prestigious school of art and anthropology in the world, as it relates to Asmat art and culture. We carefully handled and evaluated each object in the Museum, mostly with my dictating to Ursula at the keyboard, the various traits of whichever object was currently under consideration, and then both of us evaluating the object together in order to check for telling points I may have missed. We actually made some interesting and perhaps profound discoveries along the way of our study as well. For instance: we evaluated my hypothesis about the origin of the flat-panel hardwood relief carvings of Unir Siran and Emari Ducur Asmat; we established a strong hypothesis as to the figurative representation of the turtle in these same areas, and developed a challenge to previous interpretations of certain designs from this area as representing rayfish or butterflies; we formulated a similar hypothesis as regards the apparent carved wooden tassels on drums from the Fayit River and surrounds, these had previously been described as spirit hands and as combs. These discoveries will later be tested and proven in the field, but for now, we think we are onto something.
This honor, however, says nothing of the slave-driving ability of my mentor! It was up and six and late nights for two weeks straight. Ursula earned every bit of the stereotypical description I have always associated with German efficiency - I guess I should be happy there remains an ocean between us! Really though, she is a wonderful, hardworking person and I would jump again at the opportunity to assist her in the next project. Anyway, the all-work-and-no-play schedule was interrupted occasionally by our happy-hour breaks. It is a good thing I smuggled in that bottle of Scotch and many thanks to the Bishop for the bottle of gin that followed it. And thanks also to whomever it was that left him that Penfolds '92 Shiraz from the Coonewara Vineyard - We celebrated a major point of completion with that one!
By the end of our visit we had evaluated and prepared the write-up work for about 400 objects I suppose. These included all of the drums, shields, statuary and masks, the entire Traditional Arts wing and most of the Brazza and Yupmacain wing. Only the ethnographic items and the contemporary sculpture were left, and it is our intent to write these up from America and Europe, having performed the evaluations already but non having time to write it all up while we were on site.
We then proceeded to pack and ship the hundreds of objects that had been collected in Agats over many years by the Bishop, Ursula and myself. We filled five shipping containers! Ursula's things accounted for the majority of this but Alphonse and I each filled about two thirds of a container ourselves - the rest was taken up with the collections of several tourists who had asked for help getting things home from the auction. There are some magnificent objects on their way home now… a 9 meter long wuramon from the early 70's, several fine Bis, a load of great shields and many more things, some going well back into earlier collections of the Bishop.
These things will go by barge and tugboat to Timika, then by ship to Singapore. There, they will be transloaded into new containers and repacked for transit to Salt Lake and to Germany. All at great expense I might add!
I spent all of my time at the Museum or as the guest of the Bishop at his guesthouse with Ursula and Willy - we never were allowed the time to make any village visits but this was probably not a good time to do so anyway. The political situation was tense in April with many Papuans anticipating a move towards independence on May 1st. Nearly all non-Papuan s had fled the area and much of West Papua altogether. This came about after several large rallies or demonstrations in March and April that were meant to build impetus for the independence quest. In reality, the 1st of May came and went without incident and I understand now, that things are returning a bit more to normal. Hopefully the shopkeepers have returned and the stores will be replenished. Otherwise, and with the local economy grinding to a halt, I expect there would be a whole new discontent immerge as supplies to which many of the Asmat close in to the towns have become accustomed, suddenly become scarce or worse.
Things may continue to calm down from here for a while. The tension has subsided for now and that much is good. I look forward to returning in September and having the time then to get out to several of the most distant villages that outsiders rarely reach.
Steven C. Chiaramonte, May, 2000
The Museum Catalog will be published in Jakarta in Bahasa Indonesia and English this fall and will be available for delivery in November, 2000. The catalog will be available for sale at the Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress in Agats, as well as the American Museum of Asmat Art in Shoreview, Minnesota, at the Asmat Art Gallerie in Germany and the Equatorial Arts Gallery in Salt Lake City. Reserve your copy now!