The Asmat Tribe of West Papua
The Aswat Tribe is among the best-known tribes of West Papua (Irian Jaya). They became famous not only for their headhunting practices but also for their unique woodcarving skills. Around 70,000 Asmat live scattered in 100 villages in a territory of roughly 20,000 sq.km in the huge southern Papuan swampy lowlands and rainforest. The Asmat were largely untouched by the outside world until the 1950s and 1960s when missionaries and expeditions increasingly intruded into their isolation.
To the Asmat tribe, woodcarving was inextricably connected to the spirit world. Much of the highly original Asmat art is symbolic of warfare, headhunting, and warrior-ancestor veneration. The Asmat were preoccupied with the necessity of appeasing ancestral spirits. In trying to placate this spirit world, they produced a wealth of superbly-designed shields, canoes, sculptured figures and drums.