When the Met Renovated, It Listened to Villagers 9,000 Miles Away
The intricately painted panels of crocodiles, flying foxes and cassowary bellies hovering above the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art will have a different look when the gallery reopens this weekend, after a four-year-plus renovation.
The piece, called Ceremonial House Ceiling, was reconfigured through a collaboration with the Kwoma people of Papua New Guinea, some 9,000 miles away. This is probably the first time Pacific artists had input into its reinstallation since it was first displayed at the museum in 1982, when the wing opened.
The number of panels, called pangal, which are individually painted sago palm petioles, has also dwindled to 170 from over 270. Pangal created by the Kalaba clan are now positioned south of the central spine that divides the structure. The other half were made by the Wanyi and are closer to the north.
The pangal, through their designs, are a map of the cosmos, mythical knowledge and clan histories. They are hung in the men's ceremonial house, the largest and most sacred building in a Kwoma village. It is where initiation rites of young men, ceremonies tied to yam cultivation and other important events, are held.
Museum staff jumped at the chance to collaborate with the Kwoma people, who were deeply involved in the project and came to New York for the gallery's reopening.
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