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One of my recent series The Papua New Guinea series of paintings is an abstraction from the ancient and brutal spiritual ritual of head hunting practiced by tribes in Papua New Guinea. A small group of isolated tribes settle their differences by continuing this practice to this day. By possessing another's skull the Papuan's believe you acquire possession of the spirit and power of your enemy. The trophy heads are then displayed on a "skull rack". The members of these tribes also retain and decorate the skull of ancestors to honor their spirit and to retain their power. The paintings in this series are of oil, copper and herbs on paper. They depict and create an earthy, yet ethereal image of these ghostly heads and skulls. Death, an integral part of the circle of life, is accepted in every day existence in primitive cultures. I am fascinated by societal practices which energetically celebrate the spirituality of death, its dynamic and ongoing interaction with the animate. (Cinco de Mayo in Mexico, Mardi Gras in Brazil, cremation on water in India are examples of highly symbolic, wild, colorful and marvelous tableaux that embrace death as part of the flow of life.)
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