LARRY SANTANA

 

 

– Bilum I Hevi Tumas (The String Bag is too Heavy)

This painting is dedicated to all the women in Papua New Guinea and the World who are suffering from unfairness in their lives.  Women have been regarded a second class humans on this planet probably since the beginning.  Papua New Guinean women suffer many kinds of discrimination – sexual discrimination, inability to plan their families because of male attitudes, rape, forced marriage for young girls, and frequent wife bashing.  Today, women are also blamed for being the carriers of the HIV-AIDS virus.  Then there is polygamy which still continues.  The list goes on and on.  Women bear the burden for most o fthese social problems.  Almost 99% of Papua New Guineans are Christians and most read the Holy Bible.  It says in Genesis that Eve was made out of Adam’s rib bone, not from his skull or the bone below the toe.  This tells men that women are our partners.  We live side by side.

 

My painting resembles a woman’s life in Papua New Guinea – the traditional motifs identify her as an indigenous woman and bearer of life.  The Haus Tambaran (spirit house) faces in red, yellow, and white signify male authority.  The stringbag she is carrying is full of the sufferings women are facing today.  Most of these sufferings are regarded as part of our customs that are used as an excuse to protect male superiority in social life.  My painting is a call to recognize this unfairness and to work to change it.

 

Artist’s Statement:

Art to me is my life.  It is my spiritual connection between the creator and myself.  It is the most divine talent given to me free of charge.

 

I have used my artistic talent to translate, expose, describe, and record the heritage of my past, present and future – the cultures and generations coming before and those to come.  My hope is that one day my paintings will have a place in the National Museum of my beautiful country, Papua New Guinea.

 

As long as I live and paint, I see myself as a faded image on my own canvas, hoping that the world can see and appreciate the inner spirit of my feelings and not the quality of my materials.

 

God’s blessing on everyone.

 

P.S. I love this phrase…..

           

                        “Creation reflects GOD’s greatness as a painting reflects the genius of an artist.”

 

Bio:

Larry Santana is one of Papua New Guinea’s best known artists recognized for his paintings, murals, and work as a graphic designer.  Until recently he lived in Port Moresby, the capital, where for several years he ran his own small graphic design business receiving contracts from the government and local firms.  But after recent devaluations of the kina, the artist closed his business and moved with his family to live in Madang.  He now works here as an independent painter and part-time art teacher at Tusbub High School.  Like most Papua New Guinean contemporary artists, Santana’s life is a struggle to make ends meet in a country which still has no art galleries or provides few opportunities for contemporary artists to exhibit and sell their work. 

 

Santana was born in 1962 in his mother’s village in the Ramu River valley.  He grew up in the city of Madang when his father moved to the city to work as a mechanic.  After his father’s premature death, Larry assisted his widowed mother by collecting discarded bottles to supplement his family’s meager resources and to help pay for his school fees.  In high school his artistic talents were encouraged by a sympathetic art teacher who helped him gain admission to Goroka Technical College, where he was awarded a Diploma in Graphics in 1982.  He then accepted a position to come to Port Moresby to work for an advertising firm, seeking to encourage Papua New Guineans to become consumers supporting the government’s commitment to modernization and development in Papua New Guinea’s largely clan-based village society.

 

Arriving in Port Moresby, the new National Arts School opened up a new art world for Santana and he began to paint professionally.  In 1983, he held his first exhibition at the Waigani Arts Center.  And in 1986, one of his paintings was chosen to represent PNG at a conference in Brussels.  Since then, his art work has been shown in many exhibitions and the artist has also traveled to various venues abroad, including two visits to the United States where he was an artist in residence at Bridgewater State College in 1989, and Pine Manor College in 1998.  On both occasions he gave workshops at local schools and museums.

 

Santana works in a variety of styles combining realism with abstract traditional designs that signify pride and identity rooted in the ancestral traditions of his country.  At the same time, he is also a powerful social critic commenting on what he calls “the dark side of modernization,” which has introduced begging, prostitution, and degradation of the natural environment as part of development.  Furthermore, his childhood, where he saw the struggle and self-sacrifice of his mother, and his own years of setbacks and struggle where his wife has also worked to support the family, have given Larry a deep appreciation of the life of women in Papua New Guinea and their need for equal rights under the constitution.  Reflecting this goal, his eldest daughter, Maureen, is now attending Divine University in Madang.  Appropriately, one of his recent paintings is entitled, EDUCATE A WOMAN AND YOU EDUCATE A NATION.

 

 

 

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