IDNO

LS.23195.ACH2

Description

On Catalogue Card for duplicate print P.936.ACH1: "Dance of the Bomai-Malu, Mer (cinematograph) (VI, XXIX, 2)."

Three men in profile dancing in a clearing in the forest. The first is slightly bent over and has one leg raised with his knee touching his chin. He is wearing a thick skirt of leaves and has a large mask on his head. Behind him one man has his arm stretched out and holding a string at the back of his neck and slightly behind him is the third man who has a mask balanced on the top of his head which he is holding with one hand. Both wear thick leafy skirts. [Jude Philp 25/5/1999]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Torres Strait; Mer

Cultural Affliation

Torres Strait Islander

Named Person

Photographer

None

Collector / Expedition

Haddon, Alfred Cort

Date

August 1898

Collection Name

Torres Strait Island ExpeditionHaddon Collection

Source

Haddon, Alfred Cort (Dr)

Format

Lantern Slide Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

This negative was kept in an envelope marked C49/72/ by the cataloguer. The envelope was kept in box marked C49/ by the cataloguer. The envelope is now re-housed in Neg. Env. Box 9 which is stored in Storage Box B in the Photo Archive room.

Publication: A similar image is printed in Reports VI: XXIX fig. 3 with the caption: "Three phases of the Ceremonial Dance of the Bomai-Malu zogo-le (pp.306-7)". Zogo-le refers to the men allowed to wear the sacred masks.
Haddon mentions the occasion of this film in his journal (1898: 210) remarking "it was .. only just at the last that we could get part of the Malu ceremony danced with the masks that had been made for me - but the dance was worth waiting for. I tried to cinematograph it - but as has often happened the machine jams + the film is spoiled ..." The dance and filming took place at Kiam (VI: 306, ft. 1).
The masks worn in this image, Bomai and Malu, were made for Haddon by Wano and Enocha of Mer, a description can be found in Headhunters 1901:46 and Reports VI: 289. It is now part of the UCMAA collection (Z9440; Z9441), see also N.22926.ACH2; N.229647.ACH2.
Related images: P.933.ACH1; P.934.ACH1; P.935.ACH1; P.936.ACH1; P.937.ACH1; P.938.ACH1; P.940.ACH1; P.941.ACH1; P.942.ACH1; P.943.ACH1; P.944.ACH1; P.945.ACH1; P.946.ACH1; P.947.ACH1; P.948.ACH1; P.949.ACH1; P.950.ACH1.

MAA Exhibition: Same image, paired with P.934.ACH1 and P.937.ACH1, included in 1920s Exhibition Case Binders "Cases 5-10. Torres Strait." (OA2/16/4) with the following caption: "39, 40, 41. These are cinematograph photographs of the procession of the zogo le taken by A. C. Haddon in 1898.
It was necessarily a revival as the old ceremony had been obsolete for many years. The zogo le wore imitation masks (case 6) as the originals had been destroyed, but otherwise the performances was substantially accurate.
The Bomai-Malu ceremony were awe-inspiring and made a profound religious impression not only on the novices but on all engaged in them, the effect of which was lasting. Belief in the sanctity of the cult and the cult objects persisted long after the people became Christianized.
For Nos. 38-42 see Vol. VI, pp. 281-312." [JD 14/09/2021]

Publication: Image published in 'Peltier Philippe, & Floriane Morin (eds.) 2006. Shadows of New Guinea (Musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva) p.227, and captioned: "Dancers wearing cardboard masks made exclusively for A.C. Haddon and his companions. © University of Cambridge, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology." [JD 11/09/2018]