May
09
/ 2023
The term “malangan” has a dual meaning. It can either represent the elaborate memorial festivals held in New Ireland (Papua New Guinea) in honor of deceased members of a clan, or it can refer to the carvings and representations made for these festivals which are of a beauty and complexity unparalleled in Oceanic art. Viewers at the Met Museum in New York and the British Museum in London are regularly dazzled by large scale malangan pieces without fully understanding their real functions or connections to the social life and belief system of the people of this part of Papua New Guinea. The people of New Ireland held these ceremonies to honor their dead and ensure that the spirits of the
