Information about the exhibit
- Ethnic affiliation: Papuans
- Place of creation: Indonesia
- Geographical location of creation: West Papua
- Material: Albizia wood, jute rope, feathers
- Technique: factory production
- Size: length – 30 cm, width – 7 cm
- Date of creation: early 2010s.
- Collector: private individual Pale Sofia Evgenyevna (1976-2024)
- Period of use: 2010s.
- Use: household interior item
- Condition: good
- Keywords: Indonesia, peoples of Australia and Oceania, Papuans, West Papua
Historical and cultural commentary
The very lightweight wood of albizia is used to reduce the costs of shipping souvenirs to different countries, and also so that the figurines do not weigh down tourists’ luggage. Indonesians treat their Papuan compatriots, who live in the Indonesian western part of the island of New Guinea, with humor, and create amusing figurines inspired by their tribal life. The figurine series «Papuans» was produced in Indonesia from the early 2000s and enjoyed popularity around the world. Indonesians use the exotic culture of the Papuans to increase the flow of tourists to their New Guinean territories in order to attract additional revenue into the coffers of the underdeveloped Papuan provinces. Income from the tourism industry sometimes reaches 15-25% of the local budget.
