Woven Stories Exhibition

2 November - 10 December 2022

Ceremonial bilums, and other PNG delights from the JCU collection

Before it went global and became the fashion icon it is today, the bilum held, and still holds, a far more important place in the cultural and spiritual life of Papua New Guineans.

Woven Stories provides some anthropological context to its sibling exhibition, Bilum Stories. Items borrowed from collections held by James Cook University and some private collections include bilums for births, deaths, marriages, and ceremonial bilums marking the different stages of male initiation.  In Telefolmin, women would weave the ceremonial bilums that were adorned by the men with different kinds of feathers according to the particular stage of initiation. Some bilums were carried daily by men, including when hunting, while others were only worn in rituals or for dance performances. A bilum decorated with wild pigs’ tails would have been displayed inside a house as a hunting trophy, rather than worn.

This exhibition was collaboratively curated with Professor Rosita Henry and the person most responsible for collecting these items, Dr Maria Friend.