WAR SHIELD
Highlands, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia
H.: 145 cm
Wood, rope, pigments and paint
The Highlands was probably the latest region explored in Papua New Guinea. First initiated by Australian gold diggers such as Michael Leahy and his brothers in the early 1930s, its exploration revealed that the Central Range, hitherto considered hostile and uninhabited, in fact harbored a series of fertile and largely populated. The anthropological exploration of this remote part of the territory did not take place mainly until after the Second World War. This shield, used during combat and on which we observe numerous arrow marks, is partially covered with a layer of gray paint which was the one used on Australian navy ships during the Second World War.
Photo © Hughes Dubois
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