Solomon Islands Art

Solomon Islands

Pendant (Ulute or Papafita)

Elliptical or circular ornaments of Tridacna shell (the giant clam and related species) with engraved designs infilled with black pigment were widespread in the eastern Solomon Islands. The present example may be from Malaita, where such ornaments were called ulute and were worn by men as pendants. The central design of this example portrays frigate birds—large black sea birds recognizable by their hooked beaks and the distinctive M-shaped configuration of their wings. Frigate birds signaled the annual appearance of schools of bonito, a large fish greatly prized as food. The arrival of the bonito, who churned the sea into a dense boiling mass as they fed upon smaller fish, was an unpredictable event, believed to be controlled by spirits. Visible from afar, frigate birds indicated the presence of bonito as they hovered over and dived into the feeding frenzy.

Solomon Islander 19th–early 20th century

Light-coloured mother and daughters from Isabel island

Mask

Masks are rare in the Solomon Islands and were only regularly made in the northwestern portion of the archipelago on the islands of Nissan, Buka, and Bougainville. This example is probably from Nissan, where masks were worn by men at harvest festivals and during secret ceremonies, held in forest clearings. Similar masks were used on Buka and Bougainville during the initiatory rites of men's secret societies. Worn by initiated men, the masks portrayed kokorra, a powerful spirit, and were used to frighten young male novices during the intiation rites, which took place over several weeks. The fearsome expression of this mask, with its staring eyes and bared teeth, suggests that it was used for this purpose. When in use, it was likely crowned by a wig of human hair and worn with a rough, shirtlike tunic of barkcloth, which further concealed the wearer's identity, adding to the illusion that a spirit, rather than a man, was present at the ceremony.

Bougainville or Nissan Island late 19th–early 20th century

Breastplate (Tema, Tambe, or Tepatu)

The artists of the Santa Cruz Islands, which lie between the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, created distinctive breastplates, known as tema, tambe, or tepatu. Consisting of disks of Tridacna shell (the giant clam and related species) with openwork turtle shell overlays, tema were integral elements of the elaborate ceremonial attire worn by men at major dance festivals.

Although highly stylized, the imagery of tema is derived from the natural world. The white shell disk represents the moon, and the overlay incorporates stylized images of frigate birds, dolphins, sharks, and other species important in Santa Cruz religion. The lower end of the overlay here depicts a frigate bird, its forked tail appearing as an inverted "V" below a larger M shape representing the wings. The bird is surmounted by three pairs of arching forms, likely portraying sharks or dolphins.

Santa Cruz Islands late 19th–early 20th century

Canoe Figurehead (Nguzu Nguzu, Musu Musu, or Toto Isu)

Essential to transportation, fishing, and warfare, canoes in the western Solomon Islands were formerly lavishly adorned. The centerpiece of the prow was a distinctive figurehead, known variously as a nguzu nguzu, musu musu, or toto isu. Attached at the waterline so that it dipped in the sea as the canoe rode the waves, the figurehead reportedly served as a supernatural protector ensuring safe passage and a successful expedition.

The images on the figureheads are typically busts depicted with large heads and circular ear ornaments and small arms with the hands raised to the chin or clasping a smaller head or bird. The jutting jaws of the images were reportedly attributes of spirits and the figureheads are sometimes said to depict, or, alternatively, afford protection from, dangerous sea spirits known as kesoko.

New Georgia Island (?) late 19th–early 20th century

Paddle (Hose)

The art of the northern Solomon Islands is characterized by stylized human figures known as kokorra. Kokorra is the name of a powerful spirit associated with men's secret societies and masking traditions in the region. However, several kokorra images often appear, as here, within a single work, suggesting the term refers to a type of spirit rather than an individual being. Kokorra are typically shown as seated figures with flexed limbs splayed out to the sides and wearing the distinctive bulbous coiffures or ritual headdresses (hassebou) formerly worn by local men.

In the past, canoe paddles of the present type were reportedly used during trading expeditions and headhunting raids. One side of the blade in the present example is adorned with three kokorra and a fourth, headless figure, which may refer to the practice of headhunting. Paddles from this area frequently show little evidence of use, suggesting they were ceremonial objects or employed only briefly during important expeditions.

Bougainville or Buka Island late 19th–early 20th century

Art Treasures of Solomon Islands - Adelaide Fringe Festival - YouTube

YouTube1280 × 720Ricerca tramite immagine

Art Treasures of Solomon Islands - Adelaide Fringe Festival

Roviana people Western Province, Solomon Islands, New Georgia Group, New Georgia Island (Roviana)

Portrait bust of a young man

1870 - 1900Place made: Roviana Lagoon, New Georgia Group, Western Province, Solomon Islands Melanesia
Materials & Technique: sculptures, wood, paint, shell, hair

Dimensions: 33.0 h x 26.0 w x 22.0 d cm

This exceptional bust of a young man has a level of naturalism rarely seen in figurative work from this region. Solomon Island sculpture from the nineteenth century usually comprises abstractions of the human form; however, this bust comes from a lesser-known tradition of sculptural realism.
A common characteristic of art from this area is the predominant use of black pigment, produced from burning certain oily nuts. Segments of finely cut nautilus shell create a silvery contrast to the black facial surface and represent the body decorations of white paint worn on special occasions. Almost life-size, the bust features elongated ears adorned with large circular ornaments. The hair, made blonde using applications of caustic lime, may have been taken from the person this bust represents.
A number of portrait sculptures exist but their role in the lives of Solomon Islanders remains debatable. One possibility is that artists may have worked on traditional lifelike sculptures while also producing decorative export curios to satisfy the acquisitive demand of westerners, thereby serving markedly different economic, social and ritual roles.
The bust may originally have been intended as the focal point of a gift or the centrepiece in a display celebrating an individual’s passage to adulthood, marriage or remembering the departed. Its realism could indicate that the artist had been commissioned to record a particular person, his large earplugs, celestial nose and classic hairstyle being signifiers of great physical beauty.

Text © National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2014

From: Collection highlights: National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2014

Tigoana

Star Harbour, Solomon Islands 1900 /1910 – 1966

Adaro [Figure of a spirit being]

c. 1940 Place made: Star Harbour, Geta village, Makira (San Cristobal), Makira-Ulawa Province, Solomon Islands Melanesia
Materials & Technique: sculptures, figurines, wood, paint, shell

Dimensions: 82.0 h x 19.0 w x 16.0 d cm

Figure of a spirit being was created by Tigoana, an esteemed mwane manira—a man of great carving ability, or master carver. Educated in carving by his father, Tigoana worked within a traditional economic system where a carver could earn wealth by taking commissioned work for specific objects, house posts, canoes, feast bowls and other items. He would have been paid in shell valuables and food for his work.
Tigoana spurned the use of excessive incised or inlaid surface decoration and relied more on composition of form. His work is readily identifiable through his preference for rounded forms over the rigid angularity evident in other Star Harbour sculpture.
Figure of a spirit being is Tigoana’s unique conceptualisation of an Adaro, a being with great supernatural power, after using its ability to transform into a physical form and become visible to men. It was believed that adaro travelled by sliding up and down upon rainbows. This work represents an adaro associated with the sea. It would have been kept in the all-important canoe-house, a place where the domains of men and spirit beings overlap.
The porpoises or, more likely, dolphins that replace the deity’s feet have a marked significance—he has control over the pods just as surely as he has control over his own movement. Dolphins were dreaded—to catch one rather than a bonito fish was an ominous sign, never an accidental occurrence, and meant that the unlucky fisherman was ceremonially unclean.
Chroniclers of the Spanish visit to Ulawa in 1568 recorded sighting people that were ‘devils with horns like those of goats’. [1]This description could be applied to the unusual features of this sculpture’s head. The apparent horns resemble the wings of birds, referencing another sphere of an adaro’s control—the sky. Davenport described the cognitive processes of creativity for a Solomon Islands artist:
‘Ask an artist how he conceived of a particular sculpture, and he will answer that he dreamed of it. By this he (the artist) means that the creative dream was caused not by his own conscious and unconscious equipment alone, but by stimulation from a deity’. [2]
[1] R Kokonge, ‘The arts’ in H Laracy (ed), Ples blong yumi: Solomon Islands, the past four thousand years, Institute of Pacific Studies of the University of te South Pacific, Suva, Fiji. 1989. p 62.
[2] W Davenport, ‘Sculpture of the Eastern Solomons’ in C Jopling (ed), Art and aesthetics in primitive societies, Dutton & Co, New York, 1971. p 422.

Text © National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2011
From: Crispin Howarth with Deborah Waite Varilaku: Pacific arts from the Solomon Islands National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2011

Bougainville Island

Mother and child

c.1940 Place made: Bougainville Island, Northern Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea Melanesia
Materials & Technique: sculptures, wood, paint

Dimensions: 49.0 h x 11.0 w x 18.0 d cm

Ake Lianga was born in 1975 into a large family on the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. He has been pursuing his art since childhood. Many of his ancestors had been carvers and weavers and he looked to his family for inspiration and encouragement. Over the years, Ake has won numerous art and design competitions, which has allowed him to travel extensively over the world, particularly in Oceania.

In 1996, Ake applied for and successfully secured a Commonwealth Arts and Crafts award that enabled him to study at any country in the Commonwealth. He chose Canada and enrolled at North Island College in Courtenay, B.C.. Ake was intrigued by all he heard about Canada and in his choice for his studies was seeking a unique artistic experience very different from his past.

The artist was married in April, 2001. Canada is his new home.

Terry Marshall.

Kwaio woman with bone jewelry and Shelly Keesing, Solomon Islands.

Artist Jimmy Nare from the Solomon Islands displays his art.

Pope John Paul II Visits the Solomon Islands

Nguzunguzu canoe prow figurehead holding a bird. The carver included the flange to lash this prow to a war canoe, even though it was carved to sell. Nguzunguzu originated in the western Solomons, but are now a national symbol