Art of Vanuatu 89 Shortly after the opening of the National Gallery of Australia in 1982, the collection built by Charpentier was considered so far removed from the institution’s collecting strategy of the time that it was discussed as a potential exchange for one or two “old” pieces from the Pacific region. More than a decade later, in the mid 1990s, discussions were held again as to the fate of the NGA’s Melanesian collection as a whole. Proposals were put forward (but never actioned) to begin repatriation processes to the Pacific nations of origin. Luckily, the overwhelming preference for Melanesian objects dating from the nineteenth century led to the exclusion of more contemporary traditional Pacific arts from consideration. Thus the well-meaning intention of repatriation did not eventuate in the dispersal of the NGA’s Vanuatu collection. While the majority of the arts in the exhibition Kastom: Art of Vanuatu were created in the early 1970s, it is clear that many of the art traditions had changed little when compared to their nineteenth- and early twentieth-century predecessors found in museums across the world. The show’s title utilizes a pijin word that continues to be used both in anthropology and in common vernacular to refer to traditional culture— religion, economics, art, and magic—in Vanuatu and throughout Melanesia. Though the Charpentier collection of kastom objects was built at a time still within living memory, it is far from being nontraditional. It was formed in a remote area of the world where the indigenous practices associated with the objects were well remembered, indeed one where they continue up into the present day.8 Kastom Art of Vanuatu Through June 16, 2013 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra nga.gov.au FIG. 13: Ndram tan mwilip. Created by Asax, c. 1973. Menmenboas village, Malakula Island, Malampa Province, Vanuatu. Wood, vegetable clay, ochre, feathers, boar tusks. Purchased by J.-M. Charpentier on behalf of the Commonwealth Arts Advisory Board. National Gallery of Australia, 1971.207.105. Photo: National Gallery of Australia. This form of sculpture is connected to yam-growing cycles and the fourth grade level, natoer noemeu. The sculpture is long and slender and is said to represent a growing yam. Two pigs are required to earn the right to create this work, and the sculpture is then placed near to the village’s gardens until the yams are ready to collect.
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