Funerary Carving (Malagan)

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Spectacular and ephemeral, northern New Ireland's malagan carvings stand out as the most intricate sculptures in Oceania. The term malagan encompasses a complex series of ceremonies and the visual art forms tied to them. Malagan rites mark nearly all significant stages of an individual's life, with the final memorial ceremony commemorating the deceased being the most prominent. Throughout their lives, individuals strive to acquire rights, similar to Western copyrights, to specific malagan images and the rituals associated with them. Men, in particular, compete to obtain rights to the greatest number of malagan, possession of which confers status and prestige. At death, some malagan are carved for the initial funerary ceremonies, but the most impressive carvings are created and displayed during the final memorial ceremony commemorating the deceased, often occurring months or years after death. The figures essentially constitute a visual resume, representing the deceased's lifetime achievements in obtaining malagan rites. Human and animal images in the carvings depict supernatural beings associated with individual clans, each representing a different manifestation of the single life-giving force that sustains the clan. This large vertical malagan depicts a human figure emerging from the mouth of a fish, an image often symbolic of death at sea. Performance of the final malagan rites frees the living from their obligations to the dead. Afterwards, the malagan carvings, having served their purpose, are destroyed, allowed to rot, or sold to outsiders.