Head-shaped Sculpture

For the Asmat, headhunting ensured the continuity of the cosmos and was considered essential to avenge the killing of an ancestor or to celebrate the rites of initiation and passage into adulthood for young males. Enemies were killed in battle or captured and killed later; their skulls were opened and the brains extracted and later cooked with sago and eaten to gain the strength of the deceased. In initiation rites, the skulls of enemies were used to transfer the life force of the victim to the young man about to be initiated. Wooden heads of this type were introduced after headhunting was banned in 1963. After the ban, the Asmat began to carve wooden heads to make up for the lack of real skulls to be used in ritual ceremonies.
This sculpture is made of wood in the shape of a human head with a white background and red and black details (for the hair, mouth and eyes). On the lobes are earrings made of a row of cowries and red seeds, ending in tufts of feathers.