Gope Boards
Gope Board: A Papuan Artform
The Papuan Gulf, located on the south coast of Papua New Guinea, is home to a rich diversity of art styles. This area is not a singular, uniform artistic zone but rather can be broken down into distinct sub-styles.
Gope board from different areas despite being artistically different all serve a similar spiritual function. ,
It was explained to me during fieldwork that the spirit of an ancestral hero was believed to reside in each board,. The function of the spirit boards was both defensive and offensive. During times of tribal warfare or headhunting raids, the spirits (housed in the boards) were thought to precede the raiders, confusing and weakening the enemy. These spirit beings, the ancestral heroes, would engage in supernatural battles with the spirits of the raided people, creating a spiritual conflict before any physical battle took place. As such, Gope boards were seen as very powerful objects, offering protection of the houseman and capable of invoking ancestral support in times of conflict.
Gope boards were displayed in large communal men’s houses, where they were highly revered. Old Goabari Gope boards for example were ceremonial washed on the reverse with the blood of slain enemies. The term “Gope” is derived from the Kiwai language, though it is not used by the language groups that created most of the boards. For example, the Elema people call their boards “Hohoa,” while the Biamaru people refer to them as “Kwoi.”
Stylistically, hope boards can be classified into six distinct styles: Elema, Purari, Era, Goabari, Turama, and Kiwai.
Elema Gope Boards: Hohoa
The Elema people, located to the east of Orokolo right through to East of Kerema, create spirit boards called Hohoa. These boards are characterized by their highly dynamic and aggressive designs, particularly around the eyes, which are crucial in identifying the ancestral hero represented. The eye designs on Hohoa boards are the same as those found on other ritual objects like drums, marupia (magical charms), bullroarers, and magician’s staffs. Collectors favour Hohoa boards due to their striking and energetic visual forms and mouths full of Jagged teeth. Most Hohoa boards feature a naval motif, symbolizing the astral travel or communication between spirit and owner, while others depict the body of the spirit or abstract references to it.
For examples of the stories related to particular boards I recommend reading Hahoa the uneasy survival of an art form in the papuan Gulf
The power of the boards was shared and passed down during initiation ceremonies, typically from the mother’s brother, and were a key element of a person’s spiritual and cultural identity. For instance, if an Elema man married a Purari woman, their son would inherit a Purari spirit as his protector. This board would provide protection and spiritual guidance to the young man, even if they lived in an Elema community, showing the interwoven nature of these boards and familial ties.
This cultural practice of passing down Gope boards makes it challenging to determine the exact origin of a board from its collection data and old photos, as boards often moved between regions through marriage.
Hohoa: Elema Gope Boards
Hohoa boards in general were mainly collected in or before the 1960’s. They generally range from 50- 150cm in length. Some of the small boards were held by dancers during mask ceremonies to acvt as clan identifiers.
Boards are often made from recycled canoes so they are slightly convex on the front and concave on the back. Early examples often have a raised nose and forehead and are more deeply carved than later examples.
The value of hohoa boards range from around $1000 -$10,000 depending on the age and design of the board.
There was a resurgence of making boards in the 1970’s and although still collectable these generally sell for less than $1000.
I would like to acknowledge Victer Teicher a world renowned collector who over many years managed to put together a wonderful collection of gope boards and Virginia Lee-webb who put the collection into book called Embodied spirits: Gope boards from the Papuan Gulf.
Purari Gope Boards
The Purari people share close cultural ties with the Elema, and their spirit boards are quite similar in form. However, Purari boards generally focus more on a large, central face, with less emphasis on depicting the body. The body is either abstractly represented or symbolized through a single motif, like a naval.
The facial designs on Purari boards and on drums are often less angular compared to the Elema’s Hohoa, giving them a more fluid appearance.
Purari Gope boards also range from around 50 cm to 150cm. Old examples often have a protrusion fro the bottom of the board which later examples do not. The nose of older boards are usually in high relief a detail that is often absent on later boards.
above: Inside a Purari River Hausman
Kwoi Boards
The Wapo Era River people, known for their creation of Kwoi boards and also produced Kwoi boards are often more rounded and feature highly abstract depictions of the spirit body. Many of these boards were collected from Uruma Island, which became a central hub for producing boards for trade. The era people, stretching from Uruma Island to Kikori, are known for their Kwoi boards, which are more common compared to other regional styles due to the larger number of remote villages.
Some collectors try to further subdivide Kwoi boards into a Uruma sub styles but I think this is problematic. There is a great variation of board types even in early photographs and these board styles also appear in other areas of the Wapo and Era.
Kwoi Boards and collectors
There are a large amount of later Kwoi boards on the market. These later boards are not necessarily boards made for sale but rather were carved to replace boards sold to collectors. Unlike the Elema and Hohoa the belief in Kwoi boards especially in the remote areas of the Era and Wapo river systems remained active until the 2000’s.
The result is that many boards made for indigenous use were created from the sides of old canoes until quite recently. These later boards have the same designs but are different to older boards.
Older boards tend to have a raised nose or pierced nose as piercing the nose was a part of traditional initiation.
Older boards were also in general better and more deeply carved.
Kwoi boards range in length from 50cm to well over 200cm. many of the really long boards were not collected
Gope boards from the Wapo Era region range in value from $500 to $15,000 and age is the dominant price factor.
Bioma Figures
Spiritually the bioma figure is identical to a Kwoi board. It is the reprentation and residence of an ancestral hero’s spirit.
Some Bioma figures were made from a Magical tree bark while others like Kwoi were carved from discarded canoes.
Bioma figures tend to be smaller than Kwoi boards many being less than 50 cm although large examples exist.
The most popular and collectable biome figures are the ones with extremely flowing arms and those that have obvious age.
Small bioma had the same spiritual value and meaning as larger versions
Goabari Gope Boards
The Goabari people, who reside in the delta islands and extend toward the Turama River Delta, are known for their distinctive Gope boards. These boards feature a small, diminutive body with a large face and thin arms and legs. The Goabari were feared headhunters, and their spirit boards were especially dreaded by neighboring groups. In pre-colonial times the back of a Gope board was washed in the blood of a head hunting victim and was never allowed to be exposed to the full sun.
Goabari Gope boards range from 70cm to over 200cm.
The value of a Goabari Gope board is directly related to it’s age with older boards being far more valuable.
Prior to WWII the goabari were a large population and many went to fight and carry for the Australians. Unfortunately the population shrank when these soldiers and carriers returned with commictable diseases.
In addition to spirit boards, the Goabari are also famous for their skull hook figures or skull racks, called Agibe, which were used in headhunting and to display trophies from headhunting raids.
Papuan Gulf Skull Racks: Agíbe
The Goabari or Kerewo gained international notoriety for their headhunting practices following the murder of Rev. James Chalmers and his companions at Dopima village on Goaribari Island.
The murder of Rev. James Chalmers and his companions triggered a punitive expedition in the early 1900’s that led to the discovery of numerous skulls in Kerewo villages. In some longhouses, 700 skulls were counted, while in others, there were 400 skulls found.
At the heart of the Kerewo’s headhunting culture was the agíbe, a ceremonial skull rack used to display human skulls. The agíbe displayed skulls from those killed in raids or conflicts, and their use was similar to spirit boards but more power
Thomas Schultze-Westrum, a prominent researcher of Kerewo culture, argued that the oldest and most powerful agíbe were found around Goaribari Island, not further west, as suggested by other scholars like Leo Austen. I agree.
The skulls, known as e’épu, were prepared and mounted on the agíbe using rattan canes. The skulls’ faces were altered with added rattan supports to extend the nose, and sago sticks were inserted into the eye sockets. The eyes were then decorated with cowrie shells or marine snails.
Each agíbe and Gope board was associated with a specific clan and named after the ancestral spirit that inhabited it.
Turama Gope Boards
The Turama River region, which has a sparse population, has fewer examples of material culture. While the Turama people do create spirit boards, they are often abstract and less detailed than those of other regions. Douglas Newton in Art styles of the papuan gulf states “gope share much of the same sketchy poverty of material and methods as their masks and goes onto note that they are carved in low relief. I agree that boards tend to be shallower carved with less skill and are often not much more than a face above designs representing the body.
Turama gope boards likely served similar function but according to field interviews were more focused on spiritual defense and hunting animals. The Turama also had skull racks but these were empowered for hunting animals not humans. The skull racks and Gope boards have Goabari influence but the cult was not nearly as prevalent in this area.
Turama Figures
The Turama are better known for their figurative sculptures. These sculptures are associated not with gope but with Moguru mortituary culture of the Kiwia and Fly River to the West.
These sculptures are carved with much more care and old examples are extremely collectable.
Turama Gope boards are not popular with most collectors. The boards high degree of abstraction coupled with a rougher carved finish and the fact most collects do not realise their rarity mean they often sell for $500-$3000.
Turama figures and Turama skull hooks on the other hand are far more collectable and old examples sell for $10,000 to $100,000+ .
Kiwai Gope Boards
The name Gope board comes from the Kiwai language and means ancestral spirit. The word Gope was also used for images carved on bullroarers and for masks.
Canoe Boards of the Kiwai were incised with a single face and protected the canoe and its occupants. Canoes are of course an intergral part of head hunting raids in Mangrove deltas. It is likely that the Kiwia are the germinal culture of spirit boards in the Papuan Gulf.
Gope boards from the kiwia and Bamu River are extremely rare and most are stone carved and pre-contact.
Kiwia Boards range between 80cm and 120cm.
The Kiwia are also well known for their moguru figures. These are also extremely rare and highly collectable but served a different function to Gope.
Left: Gope board attached to canoe.
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