IDNO

DG.101882.PAO

Description

A group of two women and three men, probably tourists or city visitors, descend a small planks ‘gangway’ that links different tanju (open gallery) of the longhouse at Kampung Benuk. The men wear shirts and trousers with flared legs; the woman in front wears a knee-length skirt, sleeveless collared top and high heels.
Each tanju is made of split bamboo slats lashed together on a raised platform. The ‘walls’ are made of bamboo poles. On the right are the longhouse apartments, sharing an awah (inner covered verandah) and a sloping zinc roof. On the left, at the other end of the tanju, are small working huts belonging to individual families, for rice processing, weaving and other domestic tasks. Clothes are hung out to dry on a line on the right.
In the background are coconut trees and other foliage.

Place

SE Asia Borneo; Malaysia; Sarawak; Penrissen; Kampung Benuk [Kampung Segu Bunuk]

Cultural Affliation

Bidayuh [historically Land Dayak]

Named Person

Photographer

?Paka anak Otor

Collector / Expedition

Paka anak Otor

Date

circa 1965 - 1978

Collection Name

Paka anak Otor Collection

Source

Paka anak OtorChua, Liana

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Source: A selection of 185 prints from Paka anak Otor’s larger collection of approximately 500 prints was made by Liana Chua during fieldwork in Kampung Benuk, Sarawak, Malaysia, in 2005. The purchase of non-exclusive reproduction rights [RM 1845, £250] by the Museum to the family of Paka anak Otor [82 Kampung Benuk, Jalan Puncak Borneo, Kuching 93250, Sarawak, Malaysia], and digital copy photographs of the collection [RM 869, £125] were paid for by the Museum Acquisition Fund [£250] and part of a Crowther-Beynon grant [£125] for the collecting of Sarawak objects. The digital scans were made by Fung Huang Colour Photo Centre [153 Padungan Road, Kuching, Sarawak] in 2005. [Liana Chua 2/8/2007]

Context: Kampung Benuk has been a small-scale tourist attraction since the 1960s, being particularly famous for its longhouse. Its first visitors were often members of the British, Australian and American armed forces stationed nearby during the Confrontation years between Indonesia and Malaysia (1963-1966); later visitors included civilian tourists, foreign dignitaries, UNESCO representatives, film crews, and government officials. Benuk’s visitor numbers appear to have peaked around the 1970s and 1980s, especially with increasing domestic and Asian tourism and the state government’s tourist promotion efforts. Today it remains a fairly popular attraction despite its much diminished longhouse. [Liana Chua 6/8/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Liana Chua 6/8/2007]