Kaisa tells Gogodala tales with a brush

By JOSEPH DAWAI
PIONEER writers, photographers and modern day artists have long enjoyed the isolation and beauty of the flood plains along the Aramia River in Western.
The first white man sailed past the group of islands and became the first to take freehold possession. But its beauty and remoteness wasn’t fully appreciated until local artist Gubida Kaisa was born to a family of the famous colorful canoe designers in 1959 at Dadi Village in Gogodala.
He is a member of the Asipali clan of the Gogodala tribesmen of Balimo in the Middle Fly District. Kaisa had a destiny.
He described Gogodala as a place with warm climate, where one could live with nothing and solve one’s problem in paints and colours.
It might be small but it’s another expression of creativity: intelligent ideas put together with energy.
Growing up in a traditional arts-and-crafts society brought to Kaisa the desire to become an artist in the future.
Kaisa went to school in Balimo and completed Grade 10 at Awaba High School and continued further education at Goroka Technical College in Eastern Highlands in 1974.
“We had such a good life. It was an artistic, musical and busy community,” Kaisa said.
The art course gradually evolved into something more formal.
“As I got through my senior year, I found straight lines and edges more appealing. I used to hate them but now I think they give structures. It’s a work in progress,” he said cheerfully.
“Like my work, I keep changing and tweaking to see if I can make things better.
“Painting and drawing is sacred in our culture. It is a place of great knowledge.
“This alien thing that rose in a man’s mind is nothing to remind the gods and the makers of the past 500 million years that earth was worth the effort.
“To see it up close is to know your place in the story of life and to know the ancient times: Your once heartening and terrifying muscle, you ask the pointing question and it asks you back. Do I belong to the wind and the rain and all the day yet to pass on earth?”
Kaisa remembers that once during his college days, he lied to the principal and took a trip from Goroka to Madang to sell paintings and other crafts to tourists.
“Nothing was left, we sold them all like hot cake to the visitors,” he said.
Kaisa completed his art course and worked with PNG Printing, Department of Education, Woo Textile and many other printing companies.
His days of working for a boss came to an end when he went back home during one of his leave periods and picked up a book which was lying on the floor of his old Awaba High School (now secondary school) library and read through it.
From then on he channeled his skills into a small-to-medium enterprise, (SME) drawing, painting and printing t’shirts, clothes, logos, banners and putting up sign boards for schools, churches, sports and individuals to earn a living in Port Moresby.
The t’shirts and clothes painting are sold at a reasonable price of K10 to K50 while logos and banners costs anything from K100 upwards.
Kaisa looked up to me with a big smile, “If I can get some SME funds, I will be able to print 500 t’shirts and sell them for K50 at my place in Balimo. I could raise K25,000 in a month.”
Some of his paintings are based on Gogodala traditions which form a sense of something big and daunting that you feel you cannot express in English. Words such as spirit, soul and magic are beliefs expressed in drawings and paintings.
Other drawings and paintings are from other parts of the country and some are contemporary expressions.
To be frank, some drawings and paintings depict country music themes such as landscapes, wife-abandoning, homes burnt down and everyday life expressions.
You would easily know that this man is a naturally talented artist. He does not have to look elsewhere to draw.
I met Kaisa at his place in Gorobe, National Capital District showing one of his paintings depict lemon butter light spread across Port Moresby harbour. It was a sad, lonely, lovely work of art that can still light up a face with a big smile.
I joined him and just stared at the painting trying to catch his attention.
Kaisa turned to watch the reaction of the peoples in his yard studying some of his paintings.
“Looking at my drawings and paintings gives peace and tranquility and I am contented,” he said happily.

•  Joseph Dawai is a freelance writer.