Abelam Wooden Yam Masks
Abelam Wood Yam Masks
Michael Hamson
I don’t understand why Abelam wooden yam masks are so underappreciated. Maybe they are seen, recognized but not understood and thus dismissed. If an object type is fairly common and sells at affordable prices the general perception is the object must not be important and thus unworthy of a serious collection. My goal here is to prove that assumption wrong. Appreciation grows out of knowledge. By understanding the different types and by learning how to recognize age and quality I hope a better appreciation will follow.
Southern Abelam decorated yam with balsawood yam mask, photo courtesy Lesley Martin.
Yam masks in general are difficult for most people to conceptualize—masks worn by a yam? Seems an unlikely and odd starting point; an artistic premise that may spark curiosity in some but bewilderment in most. So, a brief review of the centrality of ritual grown long yams to Abelam culture and their relation to the all-important ancestral spirits might help. First, long yams have their own spirits that are said to be sober and regal. The key to growing a massive long yam is the strength and power of one’s ancestral spirits that provide the magic and guidance to shepherd the growing yam to stupendous lengths. One of the most effective substances fed to the growing long yams is water collected from underground spider holes that is then used to “wash” the large ancestral sculptures lying in state in the ceremonial house. This residue is collected and poured down an observation hole dug into the slope to intersect the bottom tip of the growing yam. This spiritually charged liquid excites the long yam causing it to lengthen and expand…
Eastern Abelam man with decorated long yam featuring hardwood yam mask. Photo by Michael Hamson, circa 1996.
Only after harvest when a clan has successfully assembled a worthy group of awe-inspiring long yams a public display and exchange is arranged. The yam is elevated in a reclined position and decorated with a mask, headdress, boar’s tusk personal decoration, shell rings, feathers, flowers and dog’s teeth. The yam is transformed into the ancestral spirit, Nggwalndu, that enabled the yam to reach its immense size. This transformation honors the ancestral spirit with the yam mask the face of that manifested ancestral spirit.
Central Abelam man with five decorated long yams.
Based upon my time field collecting I’ve determined that wooden yam masks can be broken down into five different types corresponding to geographic and cultural shifts within and around the large Abelam area. The first of these is the Central Abelam.
Map of the Abelam with surrounding cultures.
Type 1—Central Abelam
The main town in the Abelam area is Maprik and in the old days you would see Maprik or Maprik Hills commonly used as the attribution when objects from this area began to hit the market in the mid 1960s. As you can see on the map Maprik is located well north in the Abelam area but I designate this as Central Abelam because the art from here is the most prevalent and what I would call classic. The wooden yam masks often have graceful oval faces that tend to be flatter with the backside only slightly concave to allow it to fit snuggly on the long yam’s rounded surface. Here are some good examples.
Central Abelam wooden yam masks.
As with all Abelam art the paint on the Central Abelam wooden yam masks is very important both spiritually and for clan identity. Each clan’s ancestral spirit would have a very specific facial design that would be clearly recognizable by their own members and their neighbors. The above image illustrates four variations of the theme. Notice the straight brow line, the semicircular eyes and long straight nose. In older, pre-1960, examples the nose is ALWAYS pierced to allow a feather or piece of straw to be inserted. The ears are nearly but not always pierced in older examples. The tongue extending from the mouth is also a good sign of age and authenticity.
Paint is crucial and the more layers the better as this indicates the mask has adorned many yams over the decades. Growing long yams is very difficult and having several members of a clan successfully harvest a number of massive yams each in a particular year is rare. There are often many years in between yam displays and a yam mask 100 years old may have spent decades in the house rafters between ceremonies.
Central Abelam wooden yam mask variations.
This group shows some of the variations seen in Central Abelam wooden yam masks—each undoubtably depicting individually named ancestral spirits with unique stories and roles.
It is important to note that the Central Abelam has many villages that held onto their customs and cultural practices well into the 1990s. Thus it is not unusual to see perfectly authentic yam masks from the 1970s and 1980s. These are worthy objects, but I tend to focus on the ones a couple generations older which were often created with more care and skill and still exude the spiritual aura after having been through numerous ceremonies.
Type 2—Eastern Abelam
Eastern Abelam yam masks are most often carved from a hardwood, tend to be smaller and have more pleasing volumes. There are fewer of them on the market and they often have much more age and field use than the Central Abelam wooden yam masks. Thus, I tend to keep my eye out for these.
Eastern Abelam wooden yam masks.
The three above are excellent examples. The dark crusty surfaces suggest these have passed from once functional yam masks into the realm of heirloom. Maybe these come from villages where long yam growing and exchange had long ended and have resided in the dusty, smoke-filled rafters for decades prior to being sold. Notice the pierced ears and nose and thick patina over what remains of once layers of pigments.
Eastern Abelam wooden yam masks.
Eastern Abelam wooden yam masks are sometimes slightly wedge-shaped with the face thrust out creating a curved backside that sits easily on the rounded surface of the yam. While this area also does also use cane yam masks--often in the shape of small helmet masks—the wooden ones are most prevalent but even so far rarer than Central or Southern Abelam wood yam masks. Again, on these three notice the layers of pigments and pierced noses.
Type 3—Bukie or Plains Arapesh
What I call Bukie is what Margaret Mead labeled Plains Arapesh back in the early 1930s when she was doing her research among the neighboring Mountain Arapesh. Her focus was on the culture in the coastal facing side of the Prince Alexander Mountains while the Plains Arapesh live on the opposite side of the range in the rolling hills and plains heading south towards the Sepik.
Bukie or Plains Arapesh wooden yam masks.
I was naively ignorant of Mead’s designations when I starting field collecting there 60 years after her. I regularly based myself in the Eastern Abelam village of Bukitu located in what is considered West Yangoru. Most mornings I would head northwest to wander around the beautiful undulating hills looking for small, isolated villages perched at the crest; easily spotted at a distance by the ever-present coconut palms. When I asked the people what their local language was they invariably replied “Bukie,” meaning people. Only later did I learn about Mead’s label of Plains Arapesh. I am sure it is confusing to many, but I have always preferred sticking to what I heard from the people themselves.
Bukie or Plains Arapesh wooden yam masks.
By the time I was collecting in this area the people had converted to a Christian religion two or three generations prior. Gone were the ceremonial houses and the growing long yams was no longer practiced. Unlike many of their Abelam neighbors the Bukie people kept very little of their traditional artifacts. Most often I would sit quietly in the soft breeze of someone’s low veranda surrounded by a pack of kids waiting while a few adults searched their homes for something that might interest me. I usually departed empty handed. Yet a few times a small hard gem of wooden yam mask would be placed in my hand. Maybe it is partly these fond memories, their rarity, obvious age and often small size but the Bukie yam masks have always been my favorite.
Bukie or Plains Arapesh wooden yam masks.
They are usually characterized by being carved from a hardwood, some have a stake or peg at the bottom (probably to facilitate being lashed to the yam), oval or crescent eyes and sometimes loop or almost flower petal shaped nostrils. Some have bulbous foreheads and almost egg-shaped heads. With these it is important to really take the time to notice small details. On the left example above notice the near perfectly spherical face and how the brow line curves up in worry or despair. The middle yam mask is one I always considered the very best, small and compact, ancient but bold. The righthand one has that classic egg-shape, wonderful volumes and broad, deeply pierced nose.
Type 4—Southern Abelam (Wosera)
There has to be more great artists per capita living in the Southern Abelam area than anywhere else on earth. Here rolling hills have given way to kunai grass plains, small creeks, numerous villages and way too many mosquitoes. The almost feverish creativity here has produced the culture’s best cane yam masks, carved cassowary bone daggers and numerous other object types. Their wood yam masks are less common and the light, malleable balsawood used allows fantastic compositions and expression.
Southern Abelam wooden yam masks.
The balsawood yam masks from the Southern Abelam have a much larger stylistic variation. The many talented artists are competitive and that the suppleness of the softwood encourages a certain experimentation and flamboyancy. As you can see from the examples illustrated here the volumes are fuller, giving the faces a pleasing plumpness which is sometimes juxtaposed with fine, delicate features.
Southern Abelam wooden yam masks.
The Southern Abelam artist is far more liberal and tolerant with regard to new materials. Western paints and chalks were quickly accepted and incorporated into their artwork. The bright, bold colors of teachers’ chalks were swiftly co-opted by the old men wanting to paint their yam masks. Acrylic paints with their rock-hard permanence were also frequently adopted.
Southern Abelam wooden yam masks.
To judge age and authenticity on Southern Abelam wooden yam masks look for the scooped-out backside on the balsawood examples. There should be holes and sometimes remnants of cane as evidence of once being lashed to the yam. And on the type above with thin pointed headdresses look for small holes around the edges where feather decorations were once lashed. The pierced septum rule applies 90% of the time as does the desire to see remains of multiple layers of paint.
Southern Abelam wooden yam masks.
Here are three interesting variations from the Southern Abelam. On the left, carved from a harder wood, is a yam mask whose ancestral spirit is wearing the cap of a local policeman called “luluai” as a sign of authority. The middle yam mask is also a rare hardwood example with great age, deeply pierced septum and hornbill beaks below the chin. The righthand mask is ancient with a woven cane crescent headdress attached to a delicately carved wooden face with red and green pigments.
Type 5—Yangoru Boiken
The Yangoru Boiken are obviously not Abelam but as neighbors they too grew and exchanged long yams to some degree. The Boiken yam masks are very rare and I include them here because if encountered they will invariably be misidentified as Abelam. There are too few examples to make many stylistic generalizations. Yet, I can say that they are often flatter, use bold colors and sometimes have a heart-shaped face. An open mouth with teeth would be a clear indicator of being Yangoru Boiken. I attach images of three beauties below to show the considerable stylistic variation and aesthetic quality.
Yangoru Boiken wooden yam masks.
Conclusion
Abelam wooden yam masks are serious spiritually endowed art objects with their creation undertaken with the intention, skill and gravitas warranted. While figurative sculpture is the domain of the clan and stick closer to the traditional canon passed down from each generation. Yam masks however are often the property of individuals and feature aesthetics much less constrained.
The long yams they adorn are the products of a man’s own physical efforts, his mastery of garden magic, and his relationship with his ancestral spirits. The decorated yam both honors the ancestral spirit and brings prestige and recognition to the grower. The yam mask beautifully serves both roles—nodding to the past, the history, and the group while celebrating the individual’s achievement. Yam masks often manifest the finest work of an Abelam artist—steeped in tradition but granted the freedom of individual brilliance and a sense of playfulness.
So, the next time you encounter one take it seriously. Try to determine where within the areas discussed does it originate; whether it show signs of use and age and is there still a glimmer of its original animating spirit. Remember its former role at the head of a massive yam, manifesting and honoring the ancestral spirit that brought the yam into existence. Visitors to the ceremony would wander around the rows of suspended yams and wipe a finger of white powder lime on its surface as a mark of appreciation. The next time you encounter an Abelam wooden yam mask please nod at this former glory and greet it with respect.