The majority of us may choose to wear jewelry or other adornments because we like them, believe they look nice on us, or because a loved one donated them to us, but the people of Papua New Guinea have an entirely different perspective.
Rimbu. Bilas Exhibition at the Australian Museum. Image credit: Wylda Bayrón
Since the beginning of time, people have worn objects as talismans, status symbols, or to stand out from the crowd. stones, feathers, shells, and bones. gemstones, fabrics, and metals. Consider the numerous exquisite artifacts created by the ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks and discovered during excavations at important sites and in the tombs of emperors and other powerful people. The wearing of these ornaments served as a type of language and communication that stated who the wearer was and where they were from. Papua New Guinea serves as the ideal illustration of this.
In Papua New Guinea, the practice of body modification is referred to as bilas. Bilas, which derives from the pidgin language Tok Pisin, honors how interconnected all living things and people are. Since ancient times, adornments have served to meet many social, spiritual, and physical demands. Some are used to symbolize authority or position, while others are used in cultural festivities and rites. They are made from a variety of natural resources, including shells, feathers, and plant fibers.
The Australian Museum's newest exhibit, Bilas: Body Adornment from Papua New Guinea, features a stunning collection of Wylda Bayrón photographs as well as items from its renowned Pacific cultural collections to highlight the beauty and diversity of body adornment and decoration from Papua New Guinea. The exhibition will examine the various meanings and interpretations of bilas as a practice from various cultural backgrounds, highlighting how closely connected PNG people are to their natural surroundings.
The stunning exhibition featuring photographs by Wylda Bayrón and a selection of objects from the world-renowned Pacific cultural collections of the Australian Museum. Image credit: Anna Kucera
An avid photographer
Wylda Bayrón, a Puerto Rican photographer working in the US, created 60 stunning images for the book Bilas: Body Adornment from Papua New Guinea. For her work behind the scenes on TV shows like Orange is the New Black, Billions, Madam Secretary, and most recently, And Just Like That, this multi-talented photographer is well recognized. But Bayrón's interest is far from a television, in places where culture and customs are still alive and well. Such a site exists in Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea has been a destination for Bayrón on multiple occasions; her first visit (in 2013) turned into an 18-month adventure as she sought to photograph every community in the country's 22 regions. She even picked up pidgin so she could speak. Since then, Bayrón has returned numerous times. Her voyage into the heart of a nation, where communities welcomed her and shared their culture, led to the creation of the pictures that are on display in this exhibition at the Australian Museum.
“The peoples of Papua New Guinea are the curators of these images, and it is their cultures, traditions and customs that are being shared. These photographs document what I could not have when I was growing up – a photographic history of identity,” Bayrón said.
Images may truly tell a story when viewed through Bayrón's lens—a story of cultural continuity, resiliency, adaptability, and regeneration.
Defarim (headdress), Sanduan, Telefomin and Toea Armlet Milne Bay. Image credits: Australian Museum.
The presentation
Visitors to the Australian Museum can see the complex beauty and diversity of cultural decoration and body ornamentation from the many peoples in Papua New Guinea through the exhibit Bilas: Body ornamentation from Papua New Guinea.
The exhibition was created and curated by the Museum's Pasifika team, who worked with local communities and experts from the region. It includes Bayrón's arresting photographs as well as rare, never-before-exhibited cultural objects from the Museum's collection, which is one of the most significant in the world with over 60,000 objects from across the region.
The new items, which were acquired thanks to a gift from the Australian Museum Foundation, include the earliest instances of Enga (human hair) wigs, Kagua area wicker helmets, and Maring/Kalam "Glong" headdresses. The commissioning of these decorations for an Australian institution is a first.
Dr. Michael Mel, one of the exhibition's co-curators and a proud native of Kilipika Village in the Western Highlands, said: “In our culture, the body has long served as a ‘canvas’ for self-expression and to convey a multitude of messages to the outside world. Beyond being a vehicle for social communication and living art, there are also spiritual domains and meanings to the body adornment.”
The images from Bayrón that best represent Bilas are numerous. A Chimbu tribe chief's visage is painted in "Chimbu Roi" using charcoal and broken seashells. His nose piercing and headgear are decorated with bird of paradise feathers.
Additionally, Bayrón describes the image titled "Tumbuna," saying that the youngster would put on the bilas for the first time at dawn. The village chief, his grandfather, meticulously unpacks the feathers he has received from his forefathers and unfolds a tiny tapa (cloth made of bark) that he specifically fashioned for the occasion out of worry that he wouldn't live to see this moment. The youngster exults. He understands that these actions are important because they are passing on centuries-old customs to the next generation.
And that is the main idea of bilas.
Museum visitors admire the impressive headdress from Papua New Guinea. Image credit: Anna Kucera
Through the camera
Australian Geographic was also able to chat with Wylda Bayrón, whose photographs served as the inspiration for the Australian Museum display. We questioned Wylda about her love for PNG and its bilas.
What sparked your interest in photography?
“When I was a focus puller in 2004, I worked on a film in Singapore. I asked production to delay my return for a week as I wanted to visit Malaysia. The week turned into a year and a half travelling through Southeast Asia where I realised my passion for photography and tribal cultures.”
You have worked as a photographer/cinematographer on countless shows and movies. How do you juggle your passion for photography with the demands of film work?
“It’s a tricky balance because I love both parts of my work life and how distinct and different they are. They inform each other so in that sense it’s very rewarding. I try to work on shows that tell stories I love and think are important because each show is an all-consuming affair that can take up to six months of my life. With that money I buy my freedom to travel and invest in my passion for preservation of tribal culture. The cinematography and the photography are each a wing of a bird for me.”
What piqued your interest about Papua New Guinea?
“I’ve always had PNG in mind but the time had not come because I knew I had to go alone and I was in a relationship. I had seen pictures of the huli and a few other highland tribes and I was hooked. Little did I know I’d be spending a decade working with the people there.”
What happened on the first trip that sparked the passion for photographing and learning about the people of PNG?
“Pretty much immediately I was taken in by a family who were able to support me in my desire to capture as many tribes and Bilas as possible. My first “mum” travelled with me to some places initially and introduced me to her Motu family members and friends and that way I was able to use the wankot system to traverse and travel the entire island always having new families take me in and keep me safe. The project was born organically, fuelled by community desire for their own preservation.”
Baining Nature Powa and Chimbu Roi. Image credits: Wylda Bayrón
What resonates most about the peoples of PNG in your heart?
“What resonates most is that belonging to a place is not rooted in where you were born. PNG is my home and the people there are my family no matter what tribe or province they are from. Somehow, we always managed to connect and laugh and do the culture preservation work no matter where I was originally from. Once I learned the language and they knew that I understood them, the life and culture, I was one of them and they didn’t hesitate to accept me. It was always a homecoming even if it was new place. That’s pretty magical and you can’t fake that. PNG and I were written in the stars.”
What does the word bilas mean to you?
“Bilas is identity, community, ancestral knowledge and a core aspect of how we celebrate ourselves and the culture in PNG. The people and I have forged a beautiful bond. Their deep sense of identity and kindness is one of the parts that keep me coming back. It’s the immediate sense of family and community that made the journey so beautiful and I’m forever bonded with the people and the land.”
What is your favourite photo from your beautiful collection now on show at the Australian Museum as part of Bilas: Body Adornment from Papua New Guinea? What is the story behind it (the photo)?
“It’s so hard to identify a sole image as they are each representing a very special place and people. I do love my first photo shoot in the middle Sepik which yielded the image of the three men with a live crocodile around the main man. The first day we tried to shoot it rained and we had to cancel, but the men decided they would get dressed all over again the next day and then take me by canoe several hours north so that I would not miss my flight out as my visa was expiring.”
