Malangan Figurine

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This carved wooden figurine comes from the island of New Ireland (Papua New Guinea) and is part of the ethnological collection at the University of Tübingen. The Malangan tradition is a series of rituals observed by people living on the northern coast of New Ireland, where they honor and dismiss their deceased, affirm clan identities, and negotiate land rights. These rituals are rich in complex ideas about life and death. Malangan sculptures were created to be used once and then destroyed, yet they hold deep symbolic meaning. They represent identity, kinship, gender, mortality, and the spiritual realm. The figurine at hand features a rock cod at its base, a fish that changes sex as it matures from male to female. This motif alludes to an important myth about the founding of the first clan group in this region, linking the figure to the identity of that clan.