Gallery Label
This figure was made to portray a specific ancestor and, with its large head, was the top part of a life-size carving. The proportions of the face and the facial painting of the round head, long nose, close-set eyes, and small ears, as well as the unadorned body, are typical of the Boiken region. The area below the head has the carved parrot totems of the represented ancestor.
Figures of this type were made for initiation rites that structured the male ceremonial society. The young initiates learned the origin and function of different ceremonial rituals and objects, as well as received knowledge passed down by the older men in the community. During a ceremony, the figures were displayed along the wall of the ceremonial house.
The artistic skills of the Boiken People were preserved into the twentieth century due to the isolation of the area. These were closely related to the Abelam People, who also created initiation figures
