Skull Art in Papua New Guinea

Overview

This video documents the over-modeling in clay of a real human skull in Lae, Papua New Guinea, in the spring of 1997. A painted skull had been purchased from a trader. When Adam Kone visited, he found the skull poorly decorated and set out to mold a more elaborate skull-portrait, adding modern materials, in his friend's house. Asked to sculpt in the garden, he refused. Adam had nothing to do with the dead person, but was weary of head hunting suspicions, and feared arrest. Historically, skull art is associated with tribal warfare and headhunting, banned by the colonial administration in the 1920's, and equally outlawed in modern independent Papua New Guinea. Because of its association with a banned practice, skull art has become rare and is carried out in secrecy.