Title
Baba or yau-baba (bell-shaped woven mask)
mid 20th century
Artist
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Details
- Other Titles
- Helmet mask
baba tagwa mask - Place where the work was made
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Maprik District
→
East Sepik Province
→
Papua New Guinea
- Cultural origin
- Abelam people
- Date
- mid 20th century
- Media category
- Ceremonial object
- Materials used
- coil-woven plant fibre, rattan, grey, yellow, red and black pigments
- Dimensions
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45.7 cm height
:
0 - Whole, 45.7 cm (18")
- Credit
- Purchased 1965
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- IA3.1965
- Copyright
- © Abelam people, under the endorsement of the Pacific Islands Museums Association's (PIMA) Code of Ethics
- Artist information
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Abelam people
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
'Baba' masks form part of a full-body costume that is used during initiations. 'Yau-baba' masks are used in communal and private 'yam scenes' – displayed in the secret room of the yam-storage house together with 'urungwall figures' – to promote the growth of yams. They may also be shown together with shell rings in a private yam scene. A 'yau-baba' usually has its own name and is also linked to success in hunting pigs.
The pigments used on woven 'baba' or 'yau-baba' masks, 'urungwall' figures and 'bai' paintings are sourced from natural ochres and paints. Colours are believed to have magical properties if used with spells or mixed with certain ingredients.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 3 exhibitions
Collection of Sepik and Maprik art, Frances Jones Studio, Woollahra, Jun 1965 -
Purchases and Acquisitions for 1965, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 09 Mar 1966–03 Apr 1966
Aboriginal and Melanesian art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 19 Oct 1974 -
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Bibliography
Referenced in 3 publications
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Daniel Thomas AM (Editor), 1965 Acquisitions, Sydney, 1965, 80. cat.no. 144
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Tony Tuckson, Aboriginal and Melanesian art, Sydney, 1973, 46. cat.no. 99, 'Helmet mask. Abelam. Basketry, painted. 45.7h. P3.1965'
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Natalie Wilson, Hunting the collectors: Pacific collections in Australian museums, art galleries and archives, '(Works of) paradise and yet: Stanley Gordon Moriarty, Tony Tuckson and the collection of Oceanic Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales', pg. 221-241, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2007, 233.
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