Description

Tall, freestanding sculpture carved of wood. A female wearing a white mask embellished with painted lines and crescent motifs holds an axe aloft in her right hand. She wears a shell and sago fibre necklace around her neck, and a short sago skirt at her waist. Atop her head is a large sea bird painted in shades of light brown, with wings stretched up and out, beak and talons grasping a fish attached to the woman's forehead. The woman sits on the shoulders of a male figure, painted dark brown, who grasps her legs, wearing a large crocodile mask and a feathered loin cloth around his waist. He stands on a small round base carved as a turtle. The eyes of all the figures are shell.