Title
Bilum (looped string bag)
circa 1960s
Artists
Unknown Artist
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Details
- Place where the work was made
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Madang Province
→
Papua New Guinea
- Cultural origin
- Madang people
- Date
- circa 1960s
- Media category
- Textile
- Materials used
- plant fibre string, natural dyes
- Dimensions
- 38.0 cm height; 58.0 cm width across bottom (relaxed); handle 64.0 cm length
- Credit
- Gift of Peter Sack 2016
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 216.2016
- Copyright
- © under the endorsement of the Pacific Islands Museums Association's (PIMA) Code of Ethics
- Share
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About
Across Papua New Guinea the humble string bag, or 'bilum' in Tok Pisin, is the most common accessory of everyday life. Created using an interconnected looping technique from a single length of hand-spun plant fibre, the 'bilum' is almost always made by women. They vary in size from large expandable open-looped carryalls to small tightly-looped objects used as amulets or ceremonial objects. Patterns are looped into the overall fabric construction with fibres coloured with dyes extracted from flowers, berries and other plant sources.
'Bilum' bags carried by women hold everything from firewood to babies. Men's 'bilum' keep ritual paraphernalia, heirlooms and items of everyday life, including pipes and tobacco.
This distinctive 'bilum' is commonly known as 'Madang style', due to the use of red and blue plant dyes in a checkerboard pattern and fringed with lengths of dyed fibres. It is made by women in communities from across the Madang region of PNG. Each pattern tells a unique story, carrying great cultural significance for the woman that made it.
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Places
Where the work was made
Madang Province