GROUP OF THREE WOVEN YAM MASKS

Part 2: Important Aboriginal Art
Melbourne
27 November 2013
211

(ABELAM, EAST SEPIK PROVINCE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA)

GROUP OF THREE WOVEN YAM MASKS

woven fibre with red, yellow, white and green pigments

varying sizes up to 45.0 cm height

Estimate: 
$1,200 - 1,500 (3)
Sold for $1,920 (inc. BP) in Auction 32 - 27 November 2013, Melbourne
Provenance

Private collection, Melbourne, collected in New Guinea in the late 1960s

Catalogue text

Yam masks are an essential part of the elaborate yam harvest ceremonies and festivals put on by the Abelam people of the East Sepik Province. Rituals associated with yams form the basis of the spiritual life of the Abelam. The masks can be elaborately woven , made from wood or a combination of both.

The Abelam say that their yams were given to them by a creation being, along with rules for living properly. As long as they followed this path, the yams grew easily. However, they drifted away from these ideals and the creation being killed himself in despair. After that, the yams only grew with very hard work.

At the yam harvest festival the best yams are prominently displayed. If a yam tuber grows straight it is considered a male and if it has protrusions it is considered female. These yams are named as ancestral spirits and decorated with attached woven basket masks which represent the ancestor. At this stage the yam is named and with the mask is considered as an individual personality.