untitled (Crap Krap / Carp Park)

Made from woven pandanus fibres, these artworks take the form of ’gift mats’ that are widely used in Great Ocean cultures. Newell Harry, who was based in Vanuatu when these works were made, was interested in the mats’ dual roles as functional items and as a type of currency, being ceremonial gifts that are exchanged on special occasions.

Harry commissioned a group of senior ni-Vanuatu women to create these weavings. Their patterning is influenced by traditional gift-mat designs while their texts relate to phrases drawn from English as well as creole languages, in particular Bislama (a creole that is the first language of many residents of Vanuatu’s population centres of Port Vila and Luganville).

Playful and pithy, the texts read like jokes while also making a tongue-in-cheek reference to the use of word play in conceptual art.