Palau Art the bounty of nature

Palau

Replica of a Bai, a traditional meeting house (for men), Belau National Museum, Koror, Palau
Image: Matt Kieffer

 Dilukai from the Caroline Islands, Belau (Palau), 19th-early 20th century, Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession 1978.

A portrait of a group of women in Palau and a boy, 1915.

Ryuzo Torii(1870-1953)

 Japanese art teacher brought carving to Palau, now storyboards are one of the most popular souvenirs of Palau, they tell stories of everyday life as well as fables of Palau.

Childbirth ceremony Palau, Micronesia

A mother nurses her baby daughter during a break from one of the many hot baths required for her ngasech.

 The young mother receives a steaming hot bath from the medicine woman, who scoops up the water with a coconut shell and throws it at her body. Oil and turmeric have been applied to the skin to protect the woman from scalding. The purpose of the baths is to restore the young mother’s body, remove stretch marks and ”clean out the womb”. 

 Before the woman is presented to her husband’s family, the medicine woman rubs her with coconut oil and turmeric. 

Female relatives of the husband show their appreciation for the mother by dancing up to her with dollar bills in their hands. The banknotes, ”payment” for the strains on the woman’s body, are collected in a plastic bag by a younger relative acting as assistant.  

Two or three months after giving birth to her first child every Palauan woman goes through the ngasech ceremony. For five to ten day she is given hot, cleansing baths by a medicine woman, and on the last day she is dressed up in traditional clothes and then comes out to show herself to the family of her husband.

Inside the Bai House

A Man and Two Women from Palau, Spoilum (active 1770–1810), British Museum

Storyboard Carvings of Palau

That Palau is a paradise is not in doubt. It has a unique ecology, and an economy based on tourism ( especially diving, and marine eco-tourism) and it is home to the world’s largest shark sanctuary.  

Located at the northernmost point of Babeldaob you will find a series of stone monoliths. Legend has it these were placed there by a god to support the building of a Bai to hold all of his people.There are two columns of refrigerator-sized basalt monoliths, some with carvings of faces.

Basalt is a volcanic rock and Babeldaob is the only volcanic island in Palau. However, there is no Basalt near the surface of the island. The monolith has been dated to 161 A.D., raising the question further, where are they from and how did they get there?

Carved story boards – these were in the gift shop at the jail. All tell stories of Palauan myths

Over $20,000 was raised for the family and 2 Palauan money beads (priceless).

Oceania. Micronesia Koror Native (Palau Island) aboard an European ship.Colored engraving, 1882

Proudly posing in celebration of Palau’s First-born ritual

 

 Photo ©David Sanger

 

 PALAU. Men and women dancing in leaf skirts. Women have flower in hair over right ear

 

 School Project - Palau-Triptychon Copy by SyncedsArt

Koror, Palau: Four women (Kurt Boeck, 1900)

 Max Pechstein
ABEND AUF PALAU , 1950
Oil on canvas
85 x 100 cm (33 1/2 x 39 3/8 in.) 

Three islanders on the deck of a German ship, anchored off Koror; below on the far right, one of the ship's crew members (Kurt Boeck, 1900)

 1828 Antique print of PALAU ISLANDS PEOPLE.

Three women, a child, and a man in Western dress outside the "King's" house, Koror (Kurt Boeck, 1900)

  1828 Antique print of PALAU ISLANDS PEOPLE.

Very large ornamented canoe house on Koror, Palau (Kurt Boeck, 1900)

 Bordo di storia di Palauan vintage firmata dal maestro artista Osiik storia di Tebang

Women and men dance on a beach: Koror, Palau (Kurt Boeck, 1900)

A chief and his family: Koror, Palau (Kurt Boeck, 1900)

  “The Greedy Giant and the Palau Islands,” illustration courtesy of Tara Bonvillain, copyright 2017.

 Women and children: Koror, Palau (Kurt Boeck, 1900)

Men in front of a house on Koror, Palau (Kurt Boeck, 1900)

Tattoo Palau

This handsome storyboard depicts the Breadfruit Story, a parable about abundance and resource management. This design exudes the bounty of nature, augmented by harmonious interlocking acivities.