THE ARTS OF THE SOUTHEAST ASIAN ISLANDS
The Cult of Ancestor Worship
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With the exception of the kingdoms of Java and Bali, heavily
influenced by Indian civilization, the traditional cultures of the
islands of Southeast Asia have succeeded in perpetuating their
artistic and religious customs through two forms of decoration: ritual
jewellery and ceremonial fabrics. Far beyond the level of mere
craftwork, these objects have recently attracted the interest of
collectors. The cult of ancestor worship, meanwhile has initiated a
tradition of funerary art among the most inventive and original in the
world. |
As Jean-Paul Barbier rightly observed in L'Or
des Iles: "The primitive arts in Indonesia and the Philippines and the
arts of Melanesia and Polynesia form a triptych, of which it is impossible
to separate the panels without compromising any true understanding of the
Malayo-Polynesian world, including also Madagascar." Yet how dilatory we
have been in studying this immense region, with no fewer than 13,000 islands
scattered over nearly 2,000 square miles-some huge, such as Borneo, others
tiny, such as Lombok. Far from forming separate, rigidly defined entities,
these "microsocieties" of ancient seafaring peoples have frequently shared
the same customs and rituals, including head-hunting, the use of communal
houses or chief's houses, and above all ancestor worship.
Yet the history of these "primitive" Asian
populations is peppered with more doubts than certainties, and it would be
futile (if not presumptuous) to make any claims to an exhaustive study of
their artistic output. What exactly do we know, for instance, about the
tribes conveniently lumped together under the name Dayak, whose works are
found in numerous museums and private collections? Collected in Borneo,
these pieces are seductive in their "savage beauty" but according to
ethnologists, the great majority of them will remain forever silent with
regard to their original context. But, their aura of mystery apart, it is
impossible not to be lost in admiration in front of the virtuoso workmanship
of these shields with their curvilinear decoration, of these tombs in the
form of houses, or of these powerful wooden posts, and panels over which
swarms a bestiary intended to ward off evil.
At a time when the penetration
of Islam into even the remotest villages on the island means inevitably that
these cultures will be destroyed within the next few decades, we should be
grateful to the collectors who, over the years, have saved from destruction
and oblivion the tens of thousands of objects now preserved in the West. The
systematic study of these pieces will perhaps enable ethnologists to provide
the answers to many as yet unanswered questions. Other peoples,
meanwhile-such as the Toraja of Sulawesi, the Batak of northern Sumatra and
the inhabitants of the islands of Nias, Flores and Sumba-appear to be much
better known.
What traveller in search of the exotic would not be
set dreaming by the image of the majestic houses with curved roofs on the
island of Sulawesi (formerly Celebes)? Perched on their tall stilts, they
look like proud ships, or strange shipwrecks washed up among these grandiose
mountain landscapes. A Toraja house is not merely the material and tangible
sign of the prosperity of the family that dwells there: it is also a symbol
of the cosmos. The roof represents the sky, the inhabited parts the earth,
the lower floor the underworld, and the central pillar the axis of the
universe. The counterpart to the "house of the living" is the "house from
which no smoke escapes," or the tomb, which may assume the lofty shape of a
boat (the ship of the dead?), or alternatively may take on the shape of a
buffalo (the sacred beast par excellence) or a dwelling house, or a
rough-hewn grotto or cave. a carved wooden figure, richly arrayed, watches
over the corpse and is believed to shelter its soul, scrutinizing the world
of the living with its eyes made from shells.
Lado diadem reserved exclusively for men
or high rank
Tarnished with the unenviable reputation of being
bloodthirsty cannibals, the Batak inhabit the land to the south of Lake Toba
and on the Samosir peninsula, in tall and extremely handsome houses with
twin-pointed roofs reaching proudly up to the sky. Sorcerers' knives
encrusted with human teeth, magic staffs topped with feathers, buffalo horns
intended as containers for various concoctions and fetish sticks (pagar),
frequently "powered" by human sacrifices, reflect the omnipresent nature of
magic in these regions, where the powers of the healer soothsayer are
apparently infinite. The science of datu (composing magic spells, recipes
and performances) is even consigned to sheets of bark in a form of writing
derived from ancient Javanese and created - most exceptionally among a
people described as "primitive"-by the Toba themselves. but the inhabitants
of northern Sumatra have left the clearest traces of their genius in their
splendid stone sculptures of their ancestors, proud horsemen astride mounts
hovering improbably between buffalo, horse and snake (a protective monster
known to the Batak as singa), severe effigies whose austere features
verge on portraiture.
The profoundly hierarchical warlike culture that
flourished on the little island of Nias (until the early 20th century, when
it succumbed to the two pronged attack of Dutch colonialism and
Christianity) also honoured its ancestors in reverent fashion. To judge by
their quality, magnificent hardwood statues fashioned in memory of the dead,
and depicting dignitaries of chiefs wearing turbans or arrayed with jewels,
were the work of true artists. In stark contrast to these portraits are
crude effigies of mythical ancestors, eyes bulging, brandishing their
genitals. While the Nage on the island of Flores placed their
ritual statues in pairs on the threshold of small buildings on the outskirts
of villages, close to the sea (the masculine figure always on the right and
the female figure on the left), the inhabitants of Sumba preferred to place
their spirit couples, male and female, around fences, steps and stone
foundations. These divinities were never addressed directly, but were rather
approached through the intervention of intermediaries, who had to be invoked
and cajoled. Another contrast emerges between the astonishing realism of
these stone figures and the extreme stylization of the statues found on the
island of Atauro, not far from Timor, the rough angularity of which is
almost reminiscent of the work of Lipchitz.
Jewellery and
Ornamentation: The Memory of Peoples Without Writing
Far from serving
merely for flirtation and coquetry, the jewellery of the "primitive" peoples
of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines is the traditional expression of
a veritable 'language' that anthropologists have only recently started to
attempt to decipher. Constituting the domestic treasure handed down by
inheritance, these parures are accurate reflections of the social position
of their owners. In their forms, colors and designs, moreover, they are a
symbolic expression not only of family and blood ties but also of myths and
rituals. Exchanged at marriage ceremonies, finally, metal and fabric jewellery
also plays an important part in systems of economic exchange between tribes
and ethnic groups, and on a broader level between the coastal and inland
populations of the islands. Any signs that these parures are starting to
disappear are cause for concern, for-in the words of the collector Jean-Paul
Barbier-'it is the entire history of a people without written records that
vanishes with them.'
Nage men from Flores Island wearing Lado
diadem
In those circumstances, how would we begin to study
of the ritual goldwork produced in the Southeast Asian archipelago? The
ethnologist Susan Rodgers provides an initial note of caution: each ornament
"should be decoded in the same way as a complex text with several layers of
meaning. ... The particular form of a piece of goldwork, the process
by which it was made and its place of origin may also reveal large slices of
the social history of an ethnic group or village." (L'Or des Iles).
Nor should we forget the extent to which jewellery formed a part of body
decoration as a whole, alongside tattooing, the wearing of particular
garments, weapons or masks, the decoration and even filing of teeth, and of
course face and body painting. Sophisticated systems of communication, all
these forms of ornamentation indicated in their own way, and for both sexes,
the transition from one social category or phase of life to another: from
adolescence to adulthood, for instance, or from life to preparation for the
great voyage to the "other world."
Figure representing an ancestor wearing a
turban and necklace (Nias Island)
But first and foremost, jewellery remains unrivalled
as the most obvious means of broadcasting to all the extent of the family
fortunes and the elevation of social rank. Thus, noble families in the Batak
regions of Sulawesi and eastern Indonesia appropriated to themselves the
right to own and wear jewellery in precious metals, relegating more ephemeral
decorations made from shells, feathers and bone to the less well-off. It was
a practice fostered by Portuguese merchants, swiftly followed by their Dutch
and British counterparts, who produced showers of gold and silver coins
which could be melted down to feed this hunger for showy decoration. The
raja, or local chiefs of sumba elected not to wear these jewels personally,
however, but rather to heap them on their personal slaves, who represented
them like mannequins at important ceremonies. Arrayed in all the
paraphernalia of royalty, these slaves thus serves as intermediaries with
the community as a whole. Hereditary jewels, meanwhile, were carefully
preserved in the family house, or adat, and revered as solemnly as holy
relics. Should anyone be reckless enough to sell them to foreigners or
exchange them at a marriage ceremony curses would rain down upon his head.
In some Indonesian societies, these hoards of antique blades, old fabrics,
jars and bowls imported from China, as well as ornaments in gold, silver,
copper and even brass, were invested with powerful magical properties.
But more than all these things, the jewellery of the
Southeast Asian islands acted as an essential form of mediation, not only
between the sexes and different social ranks, but also between different
parts of the cosmos. Thus, within the highly regulated framework of marriage
gifts, the "givers of the wife" presented "feminine" fabrics to the "takers
of the wife," who in return offered "masculine" metal in the form of
valuable ornaments. Nowadays, this form of exchange has largely transcended
the context of ritual marriage transactions in order to "espouse" the
dimensions of the international art market.
What therefore remains of the religious symbolism
once attached to this secular finery? In the eyes of the Sa'adan Toraja,
there still exists a mythical relationship between the ritual activity of
the smith, the origins of metalworking and the creation of humanity. Hence,
anyone who treats the precious ornaments kept in carved wooden houses in a
casual or offhand way does so at their peril. The majority of "traditional"
jewellery appears to have lost its ritual status, however. Now highly coveted
works of art, these pieces inevitably finish their long journeys in the
display cases of museums or private collectors. As Susan Rodgers observes
with some regret: "What a contrast between a piece exhibited in a well
laid-out museum of primitive art, and the jumble of magic sticks, rings for
casting spells and ancestral relics that would have surrounded a Toba Batak
sorcerer in the 19th century: the museum contains a collection of silent
"things" in wood, metal or stone, stripped of their power, while the
treasure of the Toba datu would have brimmed with sacred energy born of its
contact with the supernatural." (L'Or des Iles)
A complete set of women's gold jewellery
from southern Nias Island
It is a reflection that could be applied with equal
justice to numerous "primitive" objects-masks, idols or fetishes-which have
been transformed by the vagaries of fashion or the dictates of good taste
into objects of pleasure, pure and simple. Unless of course they could be
said to embody in some way the final "grigris" of a West in constant quest
of spirituality.
EPILOGUE
"Western man is no
longer master of the world: standing before him now are no longer "natives,"
but interlocutors. We should know how to open the discussion; it is
indispensable to recognize that there no longer exists a solution of
continuity between the 'primitive' or 'backward' world and the West of
today. It is no longer enough, as it was half a century ago, to discover and
admire Negro or Oceanian art; we must rediscover the spiritual sources of
these arts in ourselves." Such is the earnest hope expressed by Mircea
Elisade in her moving treaty, Mythes, reves of mysteres (1989).
At a time when Apollinaire's dream of seeing
masterpieces of "primitive" art taking their place alongside the classical
sculptures and old masters in the Louvre is in the process of becoming a
reality, how anachronistic it seems to have to justify such an enterprise!
Displaying masks and "fetishes" a few hundred yards from the Venus de
Milo should be acclaimed universally as a gesture that is as symbolic as
it is moving. Yet the small world of ethnologists, art historians,
collectors and dealers continues to be shaken to its foundations by
impassioned debate and violent argument-not to mention the numerous
political ambitions and sterile rivalries that have also come into play. At
the dawn of the third millennium, when such questions should no longer
prompt the slightest murmur of reproach, the continuing crusade for the
complete rehabilitation of the primal arts has something incongruous, even
shocking about it.
As ever, practicing artists appear once again to
have refuted in most dazzling fashion such nervous, fearful or corporate
reactions. Western painters who have dipped their brushes in the humid heat
of Africa, such as the young Spanish painter Miquel Barcelo; and African
artists who, with a kind of poetic justice, now seek inspiration in the
Western classical tradition, such as the Senegalese sculptor Ousmane Sow
with his Masai and Peul warriors displaying echoes of Michelangelo. Leaving
aside all art historical jargon, we have no choice but to recognize the
exceptional vitality of artists from the regions of the world covered in
this site, in fields ranging from painting to photography and even cinema.
Where once all took place under the watchful gaze of the Other, now artists
are contemplating and taking inspiration from their own imaginary worlds and
their creations, and from their past, their religions and their traditions.
Battered and bruised by frequent wars, epidemics
and other terrible scourges, Africa is nevertheless turning its attention to
the vestiges of its past and attempting to contain both looting and
extortion. The notion of heritage is taking shape, as is that of museums,
while African universities are now reclaiming the role usurped for so many
years by Western archaeologists, ethnologists and scientists. In the
countries of Oceania, the distinguished reputation of certain contemporary
artists stands as sweet revenge for the prolonged humiliation and
iconoclastic destruction suffered under colonial rule. Hackneyed and lost
for inspiration, old Europe, meanwhile, still casts covetous glances in the
direction of these masks, "fetishes" and "idols," and the frenzied
collecting continues unabated. This "acceptable" exoticism is now quite
respectable, invading galleries, smart interiors in the world's great
capital cities and even tourist brochures. What could be more thrilling than
a Dogon masked dance or a Toraja death ritual, with their frisson of Othemess
and just the right amount of well-spiced (and carefully controlled)
savagery? While ethnologists attempt to collect every scrap of first-hand
information about vanishing and bastardized traditions, rituals and
costumes, art historians now at last have the courage to look freely at
objects whose intrinsic beauty sometimes transcends the cultural context and
environment in which they were produced. Too often at odds with each other,
these two worlds have everything to gain by sharing their discussions and
sensibilities.
In conclusion, may we offer a modest piece of
advice to the lay person for whom this Web site is intended open your eyes,
without prejudice or reserve, but with delight and even passion; explore,
sample and discover "Beauty" in all its many and unexpected forms - whether in
a Batcham mask and bulging cheeks from Cameroon, in the multicoloured checks
of an Asante fabric from Ghana, in a hammered gold ornament from the islands
of Southeast Asia or in plant based textures of a funerary effigy from
Vanuatu. And may this Web site serve to open doors and offer guidance in
this stirring and ineluctably subjective quest.
WELCOME EVERYBODY
- DOMAINS
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