Clash of Two Cultures when Rare Art is Revealed for the First Time.

Aug 19
07:20

2008

Wendy Stenberg-Tendys Dr.

Wendy Stenberg-Tendys Dr.

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Unforgettable head on collision was the result of rare secret art being released from the tropical islands Vanuatu, in the South Pacific.

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Bethany regularly receives invitations to attend the opening of exhibitions at the prestigious Annandale Gallery,Clash of Two Cultures when Rare Art is Revealed for the First Time. Articles Trafalgar Street. Built as a Methodist Church in 1860, then used as a Masonic Hall in the 1920’s, the stately building is now an up market Gallery in a trendy inner city suburb of Sydney, Australia.

Gallery owners have specialized in showing the best of Australian and overseas modern art. This has earned them an enviable reputation in art circles around the world.

July 22nd seemed exceptional from the outset. The invitation spoke about secret rare art on view for the first time, from a remote tropical island of a tiny South Pacific archipelago. Art that had never before been seen outside Vanuatu.

At the opening a group of nine Ni-Vanuatu artists, dressed in full custom regalia, would perform a sacred ceremonial dance from the remote island of Ambrym.

It all sounded rather mysterious and lots of fun. Eagerly Bethany arranged with two friends to attend the opening, before they went to dinner at one of the fine restaurants around Darling Harbour. The girls had long ago made the firm decision to either be driven by one of their husbands or dropped off, or go in a taxi, in order to do away with the problem of trying to work their way through the Sydney traffic and finding a park for the Mercedes-Benz.

“After pushing our way through the usual hubbub of Sydney traffic, we arrived later than we had expected. The strands of lovely island music greeted us as we approached the gallery door,” Bethany said. “Sounded as if the South Seas had come to town. Made one think of swaying palms and blue green tropical oceans. I think my husband and I will take that South Pacific cruise we have been promising ourselves,” she mused.

Sipping a glass of French champagne, Bethany and her friends joined the other guests buzzing with excitement, as they admired the beautifully carved wooden figures and masks, plus a four metre wooden drum. The upright tam-tam, one of the world’s largest free standing musical instruments. “This art is very ancient and rare, yet it could be easily mistaken for any piece of modern artwork,” said David Baker the Gallery curator. “There is only one piece similar to it in a British museum.”

A barely clad figure stepped up to the tam-tam and began a steady methodical beat on the lip of the wooden gong’s face. A stylized face that had been carefully carved to represent an ancestor.  The long slit up the front of the drum allowing the ancestor to speak once more.

Covered from head-to-toe in what looked like a tent of dried leaves, with brightly wooden masks over their faces, topped by chicken feathers, danced four men.  With slow rhythmic steps, they moved to the center of the room, chanting in a monotone. Five other men in the full regalia of their secret society danced in the center of the group. Stomping their feet, chanting and clapping their hands, they moved as one, to the beat of the ancestor’s voice from the drum.

Shock registered on the Sydney matron’s faces as the five mature Ambrym men, dressed only with a wide bark belt slung low over their hips.  A Namba penis sheath barely covering the essential part of manhood, as they concentrated on their sacred dance.  A bright red hibiscus flower perched jauntily over one ear. They appeared to be unaware of the sensation they were causing, as the gleaming well formed buttocks of the dancers jiggled up and down in time to the beat of their dance.

“No women are permitted to touch these men as they are considered taboo,” Bethany laughed.  “It was rather difficult to know just where to look, when the dancers first entered the room. I haven’t seen that much bare bottom since my four children were youngsters.”

It is one thing to think of these men dancing in the soft light of a tropical island forest, bare feet pounding out the ceremonial rhythm on a dirt floor, but to think of them as having just come from a modern hotel room, through the Australian winter, braving the Sydney traffic, was a mind exploding experience.

“We were told this is strictly ‘Men’s Business’, as any woman witnessing the ceremony accidentally, had to be killed,” Bethany told me. “ Just as well that doesn’t apply today. They are still taboo though and no woman is permitted to touch them.” Bethany laughed.

In a land of over 153 distinct cultures and languages, remote distances and fewmodern communication devices, life moves at a different pace in the tropical islands of Vanuatu, voted the Happiest Country on Earth in 2006. In many locations villagers still live as their ancestors have done for generations. Education, in an oral tradition, is handed down from father to son, through dance, songs, carvings and sand drawings.

The Chiefs are beginning to recognize the educational needs of these remote islands. Many of the younger generation have lost the ability to understand the mystic language of the carved gongs. The chiefs made the decision to share the secrets of their society and released some of their sacred rare art, setting the art world on its ear. The aim being to inspire their young people and make them more aware of their ancient culture.

Few people are unaware that the tiny South Pacific neighbor of Australia had such wonderful secrets tucked away, in the ‘Must See’ Travel Adventure Destination of the South Pacific. 

This ancient society is slowly reaching out for the benefits of modern civilization. Children dream of becoming pilots, teachers, engineers. Yet, many of the villagers live on under $1 per day. In 2007 the government of Vanuatu government admitted they do not have the resources to meet the educational needs of the nation.  Education is low on their list of priorities. 

YouMe Support Foundation and its Child Trust Fund is one of the few foundations assisting these children. Children who will never see the inside of a high school classroom without outside assistance.

Foundation is offering a unique once in a lifetime Blue Moon Opportunity. It could change your life and it will change the lives of these great kids. This is an opportunity you can’t afford to miss. You can visit these children who will not be afraid to wholeheartedly reach out and embrace the head on collision of two societies.