My painting, Shielding Our Women, is about the value of
women in Papua New Guinea society. I want to portray how women are seen and how
do we define their worth. In PNG society, women folks are seen as second class
citizens in most cases. In this artwork, I’m trying to create a dialogue to
provoke a shifting of our mind set from naivety to greater awareness in giving
women the respect they surely deserve.
Women have played a vital
role in PNG society since the beginning of time and yet PNG men have not
acknowledged their contributions. Again this is to do with men’s fear of coming
out of their cultural bondage which they choose to hold onto and have created a
comfortable atmosphere to suit their own needs. As a male working in a society
dominated by men, this has influenced me to approach my work with more
understanding and portray PNG woman’s intrinsic qualities visually to help
generate appreciation and admiration from the men. The men need to
see women as friends, companions and partners in fulfilling their objectives to
meet their family needs. This sort of family structure, inevitably will lead to
a more efficient and effective generation of people who will work and promote
PNG art and culture collaboratively for the betterment of everyone.
Women have a natural
intuitiveness to view life in finer details, whereas men turn to rely on their
natural strength. This is one quality women can learn to embrace to their
advantage. I hope my art can provoke and encourage women to look within
themselves to make sense of their environment.