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The Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery is committed to championing rare visual cultures from around the globe. Join Rebecca Hossack for a close examination of two distinct craft practices from Indigenous traditions: the carving of wooden slingshots (hondas) by Guatemala makers, and the creation of beaten barkcloths (Nioge) by the Ömie people of Papua New Guinea. These fascinating artistic traditions are shown in dialogue with the work of American nomadic artist, LoU Zeldis, whose jewellery and textile practice was profoundly influenced by Central American and Oceanic techniques.

Hondas are handheld slingshots used to kill small prey at close range. Often made from wood, bone or horn, they are intricately carved to resemble figures, animals, fruit and vegetables, saints, musical instruments, monsters and other peculiar objects. Despite the fact hondas function primarily as weapons, they are often considered art objects in their own right. They are highly decorative; expertly carved, usually painted or stained, and sometimes adorned with glass eyes and beads.

Nioge are a central feature of life and culture for the Ömie people of Papua New Guinea. Made almost exclusively by women, they are used for personal adornment, domestic comfort and ceremonial purposes. The surface consists of fine-grained cloth made from the inner bark of native trees. Additional elements are appliquéd onto this ground, stitched with a needle fashioned from a bone of a bat wing. Coloured elements derive from the pigments of chewed leaves, roots, volcanic ash and fruit pulp. The essential iconography derives from ancient forms, combining schematic Soru’e (tattoo) designs with figurative elements gleaned from close observation of the natural world.

LoU Zeldis was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1944. After a childhood spent in Japan, and an adolescence immersed in the avant-garde milieu of Manhattan’s Bowery district, LoU spent three formative years in Peru in the 1970s, where he learnt fabric weaving and dyeing. From 1980 until his death in 2012, he lived predominantly in Indonesia, where he reimagined traditional craftsmanship techniques with compelling originality. His distinctive oeuvre represents a modernisation of ancient forms, and a synthesis of Western and Non-Western approaches to craft.

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