Driftwood Can Look

Ferocious

This shark with the great, lashing tail is typical of the carving now being done by the Wuvulu Islanders, who live about 112 miles off the north coast of New Guinea. Another characteristic is the teeth, which are real sharks’ teeth, from baby sharks. The islanders carve mostly from driftwood, so various timbers are used. Some of the driftwood is in the form of large logs that have been swept far out to sea from the mouth of the great Sepik River on New Guinea’s north coast, and when they come ashore the islander who first sights suitable timber for carving or for a canoe, or for the village, will put his “mark” on it to let everybody know it’s been claimed. Not much Wuvulu carving has been available over the years, but more of it is likely to come on the market as a result of the launching of a new land development scheme on the island (also known as Maty island) by Wuvulu Holdings Pty. Ltd. Under this scheme (reported in detail in PlM’s February issue) the com pany has, among other things, made a contract with the PNG Government to assist in the marketing of island artefacts. In Sydney the agency has been given to art and artefacts dealer Laurie Mar shall, who operates the Tapa Gallery in Underwood St., Paddington.

He describes the Wuvulu carvers as “very talented, and showing ori ginality”, but he is anxious to get them to produce more of their own traditional work. He suspects that the shark designs have been “intro duced” because somebody considered that they were marketable.

“They are highly marketable”, he said. “But excellent carvers like these should be encouraged to have full rein.” The original of the shark reproduced is about 12 in. long.