IDNO

N.162083.RPT

Description

Gumine. A gathering of villagers with Roslyn Poignant standing in the centre of the image as a man beats a hand drum in front of her. He is wearing a headdress adorned with feathers, nose and neck ornaments. Several other men also wearing headdresses stand behind him. Men and children gather around. [PB 16/03/2023]

Place

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

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Poignant, Axel

Collector / Expedition

Date

1969

Collection Name

Poignant Collection

Source

Poignant, Roslyn

Format

Film Negative Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.156866.RPT - N.163288.RPT include the negatives which were located in a black folder, now numbered C1022/26.

N.162066.RPT - N.162101.RPT were located in a negative sheet, now numbered C1022/26/176.

Publication: Image published in MAA Digital Lab, Remembering How to Wonder with the Poignant Collection', by Leah Mclaine, 24 October 2023, with the related text: "The first thing that struck me in this image was the infinity of it. The number of flowers dipping their heads down, the number of people standing up, and the number of eyes flitting everywhere; a symphony of thoughts, feelings, objects, and people, all presenting themselves to the camera.  Angel’s trumpets or Brugmansia sweep around the ensemble, like strokes of white paint dashed in the background, becoming pointed and defined in the fore. Delicate though you imagine these trumpets to be, they seem, with the wide-angle lens, larger than the children who stand with arms crossed or wrapped around them on the bottom right of the image.
Tall pointed black feathers stand huddled at the back. Wearing headdresses of cassowary and birds-of-paradise feathers, jutting out in every direction, the group of men are charged with the excitement and pride about the dance and wedding celebrations ahead of them. The rest of the children peer on, holding bundles of sticks, looking up at the adults around them, and varying in the confidence with which they face the moment of their portrait being made.  
Roslyn stands amidst them all, with a funny smile, and a large floppy hat imitating the form of the Brugmansia. As out of place as one would imagine her to be, and despite curious children straining to see her, she stares straight through the crowd at Axel. Perhaps most curious of all is one of the men in the back. Dressed finely for the occasion, he seems completely unaffected by the moment of the photograph and pose. He turns a newspaper in his hands." [JD 12/03/2024]