Female Figure

This figure’s frontal form makes evident her most symbolic features. The halo-like shape around her head represents a hood-like cap made of bark cloth, which was traditionally worn by women in the Korewori River region of the Sepik River. Pendulous breasts suggest an elderly woman while incised motifs on her trunk indicate the navel and intestines, and lateral hooks represent ribs. This work was created through a collaborative process originating with a hunter, who envisioned the form in a dream, and a sculptor, who was commissioned to transcribe this vision in wood. Female figures such as this are considered guardians of game and the hunt. As “mothers” of Ewa men’s ceremonial houses, the figures play an important role in rituals conducted there before hunting expeditions.