Uli figures are wooden statues from
New Ireland in
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
. Like their neighbors to the north and south, the artistic traditions of the peoples of central New Ireland formerly focused largely around
mortuary rites. In contrast to the intricate ''
malagan'' carvings of the north, artists in central New Ireland produced less ornate but more permanent figures known as ''uli'', which were kept and reused many times. No longer made today, uli were displayed as part of lengthy
fertility rites involving the exhumation and reburial of human skulls, which accompanied the planting of
sacred plants.
When a newly carved uli was brought out, a
shaman
Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...
assisted in inducing the spirit of the deceased chief to enter the carving, and after the ceremony, the work was kept in the "men's house" where it would continue to aid the successor and his people.
Uli figures appear
hermaphroditic
A hermaphrodite () is a sexually reproducing organism that produces both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female are gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphroditic.
The individuals of many ...
, having both a phallus and prominent breasts. This blending of male and female features possibly symbolized the fertile and nourishing powers of clan leaders, who were expected to provide for the other members of the clan. The Uli figures probably symbolized the connection between paternal and maternal life energy in initiation ceremonies.
Sources
*''New Ireland: art of the South Pacific'' by Michael Gunn, Philippe Peltier, St. Louis Art Museum, Musée du quai Branly, Ethnologisches Museum Berlin (2006)
*''Ritual arts of Oceania, New Ireland: in the collections of the Barbier-Mueller Museum'' by Musée Barbier-Mueller, Michael Gunn, Pierre-Alain Ferrazzini, Mona Bismarck Fondation (1994)
*''Assemblage of spirits: idea and image in New Ireland'' by Louise Lincoln, Minneapolis Institute of Arts (1987)
*''The iconology of the Uli figure of central New Ireland'' by Philip Collins Gifford (1974)
External links
Britannica Online EncyclopediaThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
Brooklyn Museum
Death customs
New Ireland Province
Oceanian art
Religion in Papua New Guinea
Wooden sculptures
Androgyny
Intersex topics in religion and mythology
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