Awards not recognising artists

I HAVE been concerned for quite some time that the Logohu Awards system has not been recognising contemporary artists.
As the founder and first director of Raun Theatre from 1975 to 1984, for example, I think that there are at least four theatre artists who deserve such an acknowledgement for their work in presenting Papua New Guinea culture to audiences both nationally and internationally.
They are Saio Avefa, Tracy Pari, Yalambing Namu and Robson Ubuk.
The last of these had since died unfortunately and his artistic brilliance in choreography, costume and stage design gone unrecognised.
Even more concerning, I have just now heard that Chief John Kasaipwalova, or JK as he was known, has died suddenly but at the time of writing I could find no mention of this in the newspapers.
If anyone could be called the “father” of contemporary arts in our country, it would be him, not only for his historic achievements in literature, oratory, story-telling and cultural philosophy but also in the politics of self-government.
His national importance cannot be overstated.
I worked closely with him from 1979 to 1984 as did Professor Ulli Beier earlier on at the University of Papua New Guinea and the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies, and we both became aware of his tremendous intellectual and artistic talent.
His long and beautiful epic poem Sail the Midnight Sun, which I think is still the major landmark in PNG literature, was dramatised by myself and the actors and dancers of Raun Theatre, especially Robson Ubuk, and the resulting trilogy of folk operas toured all over the country and to festivals overseas.
Importantly, the first place it toured was to Kiriwina where it was approved by chiefs, artists and audiences there.
Kasaipwalova orchestrated this although he never “co-authored” the performances themselves.
He did organise Trobriand carvers to create a series of fourteen wooden panels to celebrate the epic story. It was a great time for Papua New Guinean contemporary arts.
The theatre and the art premiered at the South Pacific Festival of the Arts in Port Moresby in 1980.
Kasaipwalova also played a major role in the attainment of self-government for PNG with his strong support for national unity and his opposition to colonialism in all its forms.
He believed in cultural transformation rather than cultural preservation because he understood implicitly the processes of cultural change.
He was never a “radical” or “anti-white” as many colonialists liked to portray him but he always opposed the injustices and inequalities of colonial oppression just like other intellectuals around the world then and to this day.
“The important thing is to bring up blacks to a sense of their own identity, not to get rid of the whites’” he once said.
Not only all of that, but he carried out his attempts to decolonise with style and a sense of humour.
I think, with due respect to the wishes of his family, that he should be recognised for all this.
The addition of a “Grand” to his hereditary title of “Chief”, for example, would have been entirely appropriate in my view.
I think it would also be appropriate for the National Cultural Commission of PNG and its cultural institutions to begin taking a leading role in these matters.
If we cannot acknowledge our nation’s past and our national icons, how can we claim to have a national culture or a national future?

Dr Greg Murphy PhD OL
Madang