Art of Adornment In the South Seas
The archipelagos of the Pacific, whether it be Melanesia, Micronesia or Polynesia, they all share a passion and a strong belief in their Gods and Ancestors. Ritual dramas are performed whereby the mythology and ideology are sustained and passed down to future generations.
The use of adornment depicting their Ancestors and Gods are worn as a sign of status, power and prestige and as a means of showing different social and community ranks of members.
Thus "Art" in the form of adornment serves many a purpose and not primarily related only to aesthetic beautification.
Being island dwellers, they turn primarily to local island materials such as shells of various types, other marine substances such as ivory from walruses and the sperm whale teeth, tortoise shell, rodent teeth and feathers. Local fibers, such as vegetable fibers and finely braided human hair, would be used to suspend and augment the adornment. Local and found driftwood, as well as local stone such as Jade in New Zealand, was also used to sculpt ornamentations.
Figure: 1
"Kap Kaps"(shown in figure 1) from Santa Cruz
Solomon Islands, were worn by males during the honoring of the deceased and were considered prestigious. The mounted tortoiseshell design represents Bonita fish and the Frigate bird.
"Kap Kaps" are a treasured family heirloom, as they are laborious to make. Stone and shell tools are used to cut the hard clam and tortoiseshell and shark or ray skin is used to polish the surface.
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