A dema performer during a ceremony on the beach

Demas
At dema ceremonies, the Marind portray the era of primeval beings. The Marind believe that every living creature has a primeval form. Demas are the earliest ancestors of humans. In a dema ceremony, men portray these primeval beings. The costumes and attributes identify the dema. Here the costume features feathers: the man is depicting a bird-of-paradise, his clan’s dema.

Marind
The photo was taken near Merauke, in the part of New Guinea which was then a territory in Netherlands East Indies. The Papuans who lived on the south coast, the Marind, were headhunters. In 1902, the Dutch set up an administrative base there. In 1905, Sacred Heart missionaries came to spread Christianity, and from 1916 to 1919, cultural anthropologist Paul Wirz, who took this photo, conducted field research among the Marind. The Marind are also called Marind-anim. Anim means people.

Wirz
Wirz used photography to document Marind culture, which seemed likely to disappear through contact with Europeans. Later, he published his photos in a volume entitled Die Marind-Anim von Holländisch Süd-Neu-Guinea (1922-1925). He noted the disapproval of the Marind way of life among Catholic missionaries. They frowned on the sexual mores of the Marind, and blamed promiscuity for the prevalence of epidemics and venereal disease. To improve their morality and health, the missionaries and the Dutch colonial administration were determined to bring Marind culture within the Catholic orbit. When Wirz returned to the Merauke region in 1922, he was extremely critical of the changes he found.

9 x 12cm (3 9/16 x 4 3/4in.)

Source: collectie.tropenmuseum.nl