JANE WENA

Artist’s Statement:

The House of a Thousand Tribes represents Papua New Guinea’s Parliament House. This piece depicts PNG’s vast cultural diversity in all aspects of PNG life. It’s 800 plus languages depicts its tribal diversity and a civilization that has only recently embraced modernization in all its forms and conflicts.

The color is a mixture of cool and warm, the darker colors encircling the edges with the yellowish brown spot at the middle is a focal point depicting a map with Papua New Guinea lying in the Pacific. The image’s numerous traditional designs, icons, and faces (including that of a Highland woman from my people) are grimly painted with startled looks depicting curiosity and cultural shock as we open up to the world.

This painting is the artistic representation of this diversity of people blended by the mysticism that PNG life is all about. The Parliament consists of 109 members (few women have ever been members yet) practicing a Westminister System adopted at Independence. Each Parliamentarian is a representative of his/her own tribe or clan. This is the essence of what modern Papua New Guinea consists of today and how the economy of the country finds its roots.

My statement as a Woman Artist in Papua New Guinea:

For me, being a woman artist is a great challenge in this area which is dominated by males for decades in PNG. In PNG it is usually men who take the front stage, while we women are taken for granted and always remain behind the fences and observed as man’s possession. Used and abused as we strive for change, we are never given a fair go. I truly don’t believe I would enjoy or tolerate spending the rest of my life living under the shadow of a man when I already know I am equal to him. It is now or never. My biggest concern is with the neglect shown towards women’s contributions to the many cultures and traditional heritages of the beautiful arts and crafts which Papua New Guinea is known to be rich in. A woman’s contribution is always taken for granted and the end result is that her husband or father gets given all the credit.

Take the art of painting, which today as in the past you will rarely see women participating in – there are a few who have striven to succeed but eventually give up. You have to ask, why has this happened.?.....Simply because we are women and are denied our talents and the right to be recognized. Only recently, after endless attempts in our struggles for recognition have we surfaced in 1999 with our first women’s exhibition in Papua New Guinea. ( PNG Meri artists soim piksa). Art is not only for men. Art is in everybody and Art is for everybody… As a female artist I believe that we must take every chance to display our talents and that our national authorities should start to focus on women’s perspective and to encourage us to build our dreams and be an inspiration to other women.

As a graphic artist most of my artwork consists of pen and ink because I specialize in pen illustration. I like fine and detailed work. But, recently, I have also chosen to do paintings and to experiment with the world of color. We have such a beautiful and unique heritage where many of our arts and crafts are very colorful, so I thought why not try using color to capture the facial expressions and rich decorations of Highland people.

BACK