IDNO

T.151615.RPT

Description

On Catalogue Card: "238. S.P. New Guinea. Gumine. 35mm.Ekta." [Poignant's manuscript]
"23 to 30. Degi shows Erita [her granddaughter] how to make a bilum [string bag]." [Poignant's typed text]

Place

Oceania Melanesia; Papua New Guinea; Highlands Region; Chimbu Province; Gumine District; Gumine [Simbu Province]

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Degi; Erita

Photographer

Poignant, Axel

Collector / Expedition

Date

1969

Collection Name

Poignant Collection

Source

Poignant, Roslyn

Format

Colour Transparency

Primary Documentation

Other Information

T.148696.RPT - T.152693.RPT were located in the drawer file of transparency sheets, numbered C1021/.

T.151606.RPT - T.151628.RPT were located in a transparency sheet, numbered C1021/123.

Publication: Similar image published in Poignant, Axel and Roslyn. 1972. Kaleku. London: Angus and Robertson, p.14. [KK 16/08/2022]

Bibliographical reference: Poignant, Axel and Roslyn. 1972. Kaleku. London: Angus and Robertson, p.15. This extract comes from a children's book, written about a boy named Kaleku and his family in Gumine: "Erita was her grandmother's favourite. The old lady showed her how to do many things. How to make string by rolling plant fibres on her knee; how to dye it bright colours before she made it into a bilum or net bag.
Bilums are useful for carrying the baby, the firewood or the food from the garden – or sometimes all three. Even quite small girls wear the hanging from their heads.
Grandma's fingers moved fast as she looped the coloured string round the strip of leaf she used as a spacer. After a little practice Erita could even make her own bilum as she walked to and from the gardens – just like her grandmother." [KK 16/08/2022]