Papua New Guinea Totem Pole

Pictures as promised...

St Mungo's

We went here yesterday.








We also played with a couple of Tibetan Singing Bowls. I have now ordered one from ebay... how exciting!

Still thinking. I like these though.

From the bus!

Dad has a (totem pole/model) from Papua New Guinea which sounds interesting - it has a fork on the top, believed to be the spikes on which you impale you're enemy's severed head. The blood then runs down through a hollow in the totem, into the ground. The story from wikipedia (always reliable, I know) is a little different, however knowing of the differences between tribes from other areas, it is no real surprise that the stories differ. I'll try and get hold of Dad and maybe get him to send up a photo.

"A Bisj Pole, or Bis Pole, is a ritual artifact used by the Asmat people of south-western New Guinea. Objects similar to Bisj Poles are found among many peoples of the South Pacific islands - in New Zealand, and on Vanuatu.
Carved out of a single piece of a wild nutmeg tree, Bisj poles can reach heights of up to 25 feet (7.62 m), and consist of human figures standing on top of each other, as well as animal figures, phallic symbols, and carvings in the shape of a canoe prow. Bisj poles were carved by the religious carvers of the Asmat (wow-ipits) after a member of the tribe or community had been headhunted (killed) by an enemy tribe. The Asmat participated in headhunting raids and cannibalism as ritual. The Asmat believed that if a member of the community had been headhunted, his spirit would linger in the village and cause disharmony. Bisj poles were erected in order to satisfy these spirits and send them to the afterlife (Safan) across the sea. Many rituals were involved in the Bisj poles including dancing, masquerading, singing and headhunting--all performed by men. Bisj poles often had a receptacle at the base that was meant to hold the heads of enemies taken on headhunting missions. The phallic symbols represented the strength and virility of the community's ancestors as well as of the warriors going on the headhunting mission. Canoe prow symbols represented a metaphorical boat that would take the deceased spirits away to the afterlife. The human figures would represent deceased ancestors. Bisj poles were erected primarily as an act of revenge, to pay homage to the ancestors and to bring harmony and spiritual strength to the community. Although headhunting ended in the Asmat region in the 1970s, the poles are still used in rituals today." wikipedia

What is consistent is the metaphor of the past peoples of the area - the representations of faces on the totem pole represent the tribes ancestors. In terms of tourism, I can't really think of a physical equivalent - reading pages of books, watching videos, just doesn't seem to have the same weight as a physical artifact that you can see the time and effort of its creator - something that I suppose does give a more spiritual meaning to the piece. It connects the (carver) artist to his roots. This theme is prevalent in a lot of modern day mythology - the crystal ball, the tarot cards. Both are open to interpretation, and to an open mind can carry great spiritual meaning.

With more and more parts of ourselves being distributed online, it could be interesting to explore a medium that would combine a 'crystal ball' metaphor with an aspect of the persons online self.

Something that attracts me to this idea is the feeling that the sort of seance table set up creates. With more people around, absorbing the exhibit, the more atmosphere and likelihood there is of someone having a spiritual experience(?).



If animals, and I may choose a specific animal, carry a certain spirit with them, could this spirit be reinterpreted as an online [part of the human soul...] such as photos of themselves (facebook), or photos that they have taken (flickr) or places that they have traveled (delicious)

And so uh yeah, thinking of combining all of this at the moment. Wish me luck!

Native American Mythology

The Medicine pipe - brought out on the sound of first thunder as talismanic protection for the tribe.

Recurring theme of animals diving into the sea, digging up mud and making the earth. The creator turtle.

The Totem pole - seen to inspire great spiritual strength

To combat the world around them Native American people sought to (befriend/ obtain wisdom from) the spirits of the universe. Sometimes these came in the form of animals, each symbolic of different principles. The Native American's closeness to a spirit would be represented by wearing parts of the animals, such as horns, feathers or furs. The idea of animals being symbolic of a story themselves is interesting, as the story has been defined by the individual tribes; for example tribes from the coast revere sea mammals whereas those who stay inland fear them. Seeing animals as spiritual reincarnations or of having certain spiritual qualities is something I may explore further - I can see how the narrative would fit with an exhibition piece. Trouble is - do I become a qualified taxidermist!?

There is also the concept of certain animals being 'close to us' as humans. I suppose the scientific equivalent would be the gorilla but Californian tribes deemed the bear as being spiritually close to us, some would not even eat its meat. Other tribes are known to ceremonially bury the animals remains as a mark of their respect. On the other hand, there are legends of North American tribes mating with animals, hmm.

Soul catcher - sickness was believed to be caused by the soul leaving it's host body, and the catcher would return the soul thus healing the individual. 

Something with a similar premise might be worth researching further, religions have places of worship where there is thought to be healing spiritual qualities, and I can imagine that, similar to the atmosphere created by modern space installations (thinking of the Firefly exhibition) my spiritual object exhibitions atmosphere could be angled to coincide with a story of healing or affecting the participant's soul.

Lunch time.

Spiritual Objects

Brief brief - A story based interactive media piece made for exhibition. A spiritual object.

Initial thoughts...

Spiritual - relating to / of the nature of spirit.

Spirit - vital principle: the soul: frame of mind: essence, chief quality: actuating emotion...

                            Chambers Dictionary.

Aboriginal Crafts - Masks, didgeridoos, boomerangs.

Stories - Fables. 

This face-thingy-in-a-shell was a present from a family member. It used to scare me so I thought, in my childish wisdom, that it would make a nice present for my gran. Gran recently moved, and I took the opportunity to take back my scary, sponge faced toy mainly because it reminded me of my childhood. Interestingly there is a story behind it, and what it symbolizes. That story can wait till next time though, as with all childhood stories, I'm sure the version I remember will be a little vague and inaccurate! I can tell you this, it was to do with social interaction, sort of an ugly duckling story.

This got me thinking though, is this considered spiritual? I'm not sure that matters, as the story being told, and the way it is told, would surely make the object feel to have some 'soul' and therefore the spirituality is drawn from the experience of the exhibition rather than any past knowledge of the onlooker.

After hearing the brief you naturally go through the typical thoughts of spiritual objects such as the crucifix, Buddha, the lost ark(???), mainly religious artifacts or objects from Indiana Jones stories, but these are of no spiritual worth to me personally. 

There was an exhibition in Edinburgh years ago of a lumpy, furry, 'sensually shaped' mass in a darkened tent. It emitted pheromones or some other smell or substance that was meant to affect its audience, and I am sure there was some sort of feedback of how we all felt. I think, and I know this description is maybe vague, that this is more along the lines of what I would like to investigate, something that you feel (or interact with in such a way as to simulate the affect of touch).

The lecture from Nigel Johnson today was interesting, I particularly liked the firefly exhibition he described - 

"Fire-Fly…..this installation occured in almost total darkness. Small light sources, which mimic fire-fly flashes, were suspended by fine connecting wires in a matrix arrangement at different heights above head level. Motion from the spectators within the space was used as a ‘seed’ within the controlling programs to select the starting glow positions and flash patterns of the 'Fire-Fly'"

The atmosphere created sounds very relevant to the brief, the story is generated by the spectators moving in the room, and I suppose I need to decide how my story, whatever it may be, will be communicated.

Till next time...