The Gida Initiative - protecting Motu cultural heritage
Operation 'Raro' at Boera
Documenting the legacy of one of the last surviving Motu potters, and the vision for pottery revival.
Pilot Field Work at Boera Village, June 2015 (watch video):
This Project relies on
donations from the community.
Please give generously! Thank you
I always knew Motu pottery was rarely produced anymore. But like most people I didn't think too much about it, except to look in awe at the specimens my dad had collected in Boera in the 1950s, including this cooking-pot (left) and water-pot (right).
THE LAMENTABLE REALITY OF MOTU POTTERY:
Motu culture suffered a crippling blow in the 1950's when foreign colonial administrators banned the Hiri trade expeditions. The reason: a Motu trading ship (lagatoi), foundered and the crew was lost. To say the Hiri was a significant event in the Motu calendar is a hefty understatement. Ending the Hiri extinguished many interrelated cultural expressions, including ancient trade relations with coastal neighbours, cross-cultural and linguistic exchange, the circulation of traditional commodities including food, artifacts and tools, and the loss of celestial navigation, rituals and attendant music and dance. At the core of this involuntary loss was the age-old pottery culture - a legacy of all Austronesian cultures that developed from Southeast Asian migrations millenia ago.
The final blow to the weakening pottery culture was the convenience and durability of store-bought factory-made aluminium and enamel pots offering an attractive alternative to fragile earthenware which was no longer being replaced. Younger people no longer learned the inconvenient craft, and earthenware quickly became devalued, and forgotten.
CUT TO AUSTRALIA - THE PAINFUL BIRTH OF 'OPERATION RARO':
In September 2014, I was scouring Australian homeware shops for unglazed earthenware cooking-pots and coming up with nothing. It then dawned on me that my Motu people made such cooking pots - so I decided to buy some clay and make my own in the Motu tradition. I made enquiries with Motuans and was devastated to learn that only two women remained who had practical knowledge and experience in how to make pots in the traditional Motu way - both of Boera village; the elderly Asi Hisiu and her protégé niece-in-law, Vabu Lohia Muri (aka Boio Moi). A month later I found out that, Asi Hisiu had passed away, leaving Boio Moi alone as the sole caretaker of her people's ancient skill. I was filled with a stirring combination of dread and profound sadness.
Motu pottery was now very much on the verge of extinction; soon to be relegated to academic discussion and wistful talk of the good old days.
Something had to be done - urgently. My immediate priority in life suddenly became the salvation of the Motu pottery tradition.
… 'Operation Raro at Boera' was born! [raro = Motu word for 'clay']
Vabu Lohia Muri (Boio Moi) nurses one of her cooking-pots ('uro') on her lap while her grandson looks on. In her hands she displays the traditional stone anvil and wooden paddle that are used to shape the pot walls during construction.
Photo attributed to LH Natuna.
THE PLAN OF ACTION
Boera is a Motu village on the Papuan coast, about an hour’s drive north-west of Port Moresby. I’m preparing to take a small documentary team to Boera to record Mrs Moi’s knowledge and oral history before it's too late. It’s critically urgent, so I plan to take the core team up in early June 2015 to coincide with the dry season when traditional pottery is made. The Core Team has been limited by the scope of funds raised so will now consist of only two personnel - the Project Manager and a Project Assistant. This first visit will take approximately four weeks, subject to funding and our progress in the Field.
OBJECTIVES & OUTCOMES OF THIS PROJECT:
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To record every perceivable process and detail of Motu pottery production, by the media of photography, video filming and written report;
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To produce two films - one a general awareness video, the other a detailed technical video for educational purposes and for implementation of Gida's future revival programmes;
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To record as complete a vocabulary as possible;
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To interview Mrs Moi and record her oral history and vocabulary of Motu pottery;
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To identify ways to revive the relevance of pottery to Motu people;
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To identify outlets for Motu pottery beyond the village environment to offer village potters potential sources of additional income and give further incentive for them to maintain production;
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To investigate the possibility to revive traditional trading partnerships, eg with the Kerema people (traditionally the Motu people traded their pots for sago and other produce from the Kerema people who lived in the more fertile Gulf area). This would re-kindle inter-community bonds, improve quality of life, and allow them to regain more control of their own destiny and well-being, and allow other villages to once again enjoy their own traditions of cooking with traditional clay pots;
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Project Team Members who will facilitate the delivery of future village workshops will learn how to make Motu pots, so that they’re better able to motivate others to learn and ensure the longevity of the revival;
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To collate the findings from this research into formats that the general public can access easily and freely, eg videos in libraries.
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To plan the inclusion of teaching and promoting traditional pottery skills and their cultural application into the school curriculum at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
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To establish a Motu Potters' Society, managed by women - the traditional caretakers of the ancient pottery industry - to engage the community and provide training for the next generation, and also for the broader community interested in learning the art.
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To establish a register of traditional pottery experts/practitioners.
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To establish an official annual traditional pottery festival.
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To foster small business ventures connected to the pottery revival, eg, clay sourcing, transport services for road based Hiri revival, galleries, exhibitions, shopfront retail outlets, markets etc.
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To foster the international market for Motu pottery.
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To seek long-term government support to ensure the secure growth of this cultural expression, and to provide subsidies to registered full time community potters.
TECHNICAL PROCESSES TO BE DOCUMENTED AT BOERA:
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Identifying and collecting natural clay at source;
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Identifying and collecting the correct sand for temper;
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Sorting methods of the raw clay;
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Collecting seawater;
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Adding seawater to the clay;
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Kneading;
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Clay pug formation;
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Initial wall construction by hand;
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Wall refinement by anvil & paddle technique;
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Repair of split walls/ attenuation of thin walls;
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Different treatments of walls for different pot usage (cooking-pot vs water-pot)
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Lip construction (tools and methods);
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Surface finishing techniques;
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Drying;
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Baking (firing) - fire construction and stacking of greenware pots, traditional method of firelighting, temperature control;
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Handling tongs - construction and usage;
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Post firing finishing - making and applying ‘ara-ara’ (mangrove bark stain)
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Mrs Moi’s oral history - her stories and personal observations and perspectives.
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Pottery tool making, selection and usage, eg anvil stones, paddles, tools of decoration;
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Decoration traditions, eg etching of tattoo designs, shell indentations, meanings, appropriateness, taboos.
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Designation of usage - how was pottery used for ceremony or spiritual use? Were certain pots used for sorcery? Are there any taboos about gender, cookery, food types?;
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Is there currently, or is there scope for artistic pottery production, eg miniatures for the tourist trade, adaptations for personal expression?
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How are, or how can, children be involved?