Ne'ea swamp, Purari Delta, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia
Accession Date:
17 May 2017
Collection Date:
18 Mar 2010
Notes:
Small multicolored basketry bag, unfinished with loose elements/fringe extending from the top. Basket is twill weave, with stripe pattern (similar to catalog number E435156), in beige (undyed), purple, green, yellow, and bright pink. No handle.
Donor notes: [Purchased for] 10 Kina... Unfinished oblong plated basket made of shredded dyed sago leaves with dyed sago tassels hanging from mouth of basket. The basket has been dyed with an array of store bought dyes: blue, green, yellow, pink. The design is “varia ni kuaie” (Varia just give) which refers to the water going down Purari river during a flood. Varia is an ancestor associated with the Purari River's waters and the water at the time of flood is said to be a skin or canoe that she takes. This is a traditional or totemic design (opa) linked to the Purari River. This akeke was made by Aea Kevin (age 14; Peruava Orumako clan, Lavi Kaupara, Mapaio Village) for sale at Purari logging camp, as a way to earn money for herself and her family. Aea is one of few young women from Mapaio who has learned from her mother how to make akeke. Aea's family moved to the fishing camp on Ne'ea swamp as a way to have more direct access to fresh fish and game of the swamp, along with sago and garden produce, but also to take advantage of the money to be earned at the nearby logging and oil/gas camps. The akeke is woven from dyed and non-dyed fibers obtained from the leaves of a sago palm. The palm frond is first cut and the leaves stripped into fibers. Only young green leaves are used. The strips are then placed in the sun to dry for one day. The fibers are then pulled off the palm frond's stem and dyed. Once the fibers are dyed they are gathered and a knot made, which the weaver holds between her toes as she weaves the bag. Weaving time takes any where between 2 days to 1 week, depending on the time the weaver devotes to the bag.he weaving around the bag's opening is called aimai epo (“making it lips”). The handle's are plaited (nomoro, handle) separately from the same fibers and then woven to the bag on either side of the bag's mouth. Worn by women or men on the forehead, with the bag hanging behind the wearer's back or around the neck resting on the chest, akeke generally are used to hold betelnut, tobacco and other personal items. Regardless of the type of akeke, women only make them.
