The culture of the Lihir Island Group, PNG, can be experienced in all its richness at an exhibition at The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Musical Landscapes of Lihir celebrates the cultural life and ancestral performance of the Lihir people and of the wider New Ireland region.
In the past two decades, the largest island in the Lihir Group has been host to a large-scale gold mine, which has radically transformed its social life and material circumstance.
Performance culture however continues to be the backbone of life on Lihir, and has in some ways been enhanced by the wealth generated by the mine.
The exhibition aims to transport visitors into a world of colour and music with the sounds of songs, drums and flutes and performers decorated with elements of the landscape.
Gallery-goers can feast their eyes on a wide array of Lihir artefacts ranging from shell money, shark rattles and shell armbands to a colourful dancing axe and ancient musical instruments..
Some items are more than 100 years old and were collected by American anthropologist George A. Dorsey.
These are on loan from The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, USA.
Films, photographs, wax cylinder recordings and other multimedia displays will immerse visitors into the soundscape of this remote part of the world.
Visitors to the exhibition can take home with them a colour catalogue of information and photography encapsulating the artefacts on display and exploring some of the beautiful songs comprising the exhibition.
Event details:
What: Musical Landscapes of Lihir When: March – August 2013, 11am-4pm, seven days a week Where: UQ Anthropology Museum Admission: Free
