Headdress

Item number 3168/1 a-b from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Description

Geru board, or headdress. Made of thin plywood in a large diamond shape at centre, with a partial circle at top, and to the sides two ‘arms’ branching off at angles both upwards and down, separated by a small triangle. The board is painted red, blue and yellow mainly in triangle and diamond shapes, with front similar but more complex than back. At bottom is a headpiece lined with red cotton fabric, and topped by a synthetic orange material. Two wooden handles are attached to the bottom of the headpiece and wrapped with plant fibre. Part b is a plywood piece that has broken off one side of the headdress.

History Of Use

Contemporary copy of a geru board, traditionally worn by young men in initiation ceremonies in the New Guinea highlands.

Narrative

Made from non-traditional materials in Keri Village in 1989, by a young man named Andrew (for the donor). The maker wanted to illustrate for Peach what a male initiation headdress had looked like. The practice had been abolished only recently at that time, by Christian missionaries. Peach purchased the wood and paint in Kundiawa and he constructed it from memory and presented it to her.