Mask

The vertical openwork panels that flank the face of this mask are characteristic of the type called "wanis." They are worn for the "malagan" (or "malgaan"), the memorial festival of Papua New Guinea that follows a funeral and period of mourning for the deceased. The events of the "malagan" aid the soul in moving from the world of the living to the world of the dead. The appearance of the "wanis" announces to the villagers that a "malagan" ceremony is about to occur. Wild, violent, and disturbing, these masks embody the chaos that accompanies death.

A favorite theme of "malagan" sculpture is a bird with a serpent in its beak. The bird may refer to the upper world or heaven and the serpent may represent the earth or underworld. The combination of fish and serpent on this mask may, however, represent a less common mythical subject. Consider the visual interplay between the central fish, which arches above the head of the mask and pulls its long tongue tautly upward, and the side panels, each of which depicts a fish grasping the undulating body of a serpent.