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been as well as what it should look like. If the
subject is a bird, it has to look like a traditional
bird. If it looks like a traditional bird, it’s
makire. There is the concept of mateu. You can
have something that is very makire, which is
very well done, but you’ve used it in the wrong
context. You have beautiful bird, but then you
hang the bird in a fi eld house, which is not
mateu because it’s not appropriate there. It has
to be both: to be right for a certain context and
to be technically really well made. This does
not mean that it must be a simple copy. On the
contrary, innovations that are found convincing
can enhance its quality of being makire.
Having been educated in Basel, which has an
age-old art tradition, I also wanted to acquire
some older pieces of art. The gifts I received
from the group I lived with are the basis of the
ART ON VIEW
FIG. 14 (right): Shaman’s
dance apron, sabo.
Rereiket. C. 1950.
Collected in 1969.
Trapezoidal piece of imported blue
cotton decorated with pieces of
white and red cotton sewn onto it.
At the bottom is a plaited rod of
rattan with feathers at the ends.
32 x 44 cm.
Private collection.
the Ancestors, came over at the behest of Steven
Alpert and took the beautiful photographs of
the items in our collection. One of my Mentawai
friends once said, “Why don’t you write a book
about us? Then, you can take the book with
you and other people would read it too.” I
replied, “That’s exactly why I came. I told you
in the beginning. I was sent to tell about you. So,
I’ll write the book.”
Toys for the Souls:
Life and Art on the
Mentawai Islands
by Reimar Schefold.
224 pages. 24 x 30 cm.
Hardcover.
Published in English by
Primedia Editions, 2017.
collection, although I was also able to buy some
wonderful old things from other groups, who
had preserved them.
T. A. M.: And now, after over fi fty years, this is
culminating in a unique exhibition as well as a
book.
R. S.: I donated a part of the collection to
Leiden last year, and they wanted to make an
exhibition. To coincide with this, I’ve written a
book that details my experiences and provides
an ethnographic description of the Mentawai,
talks about who these people are, and, of
course, shows their art. Brad Flowers, the
photographer for the Dallas Museum of Art who
photographed the images that appear in Eyes of
FIG. 13 (below):
Skull rack, utet mateiketsat.
From a family house in
Taileleu, southern Siberut.
1967.
Skulls of three species of monkey—
Simias concolor (locally known as
simakobu); Presbytis potenziani (joja);
and Macaca nemestrina pagensis
(bokkoi)—strung in a row and held
together with decorative rattan
plaiting, sometimes with mother-ofpearl
eyes.
Private collection.