Preserving culture through art

John Danger from Mt Wilhelm in Chimbu has been painting and selling his art in Port Moresby since 1988.
He says artists like him promote the country and its culture.
“There are 32 artists behind me who also paint and our paintings have gone throughout the world.
“Tourists coming into the country want to see our bushes, mountains and cultures, for example in Chimbu, what we call karim leg, kina shell money or traditional faces.”
“I like to do paintings on the culture and traditions of PNG.
“Our culture is slowly fading but we artists are the ones still promoting it for the world to see.”
He said the country would turn 42 years and younger generations today have forgotten our cultures and traditions.
He says technology has been the biggest challenge with people opting for billboards and photo prints making it difficult to make money from paintings.
“Also there is no proper place where tourists can come and buy our paintings; we only sell on the streets.
“Many of us have been painting for years. I’ve been painting for 29 years now with no proper place to sell all these art and craft.”
“But we sell at Holiday Inn every Saturday and also at the Moresby Arts Theater, Laguna Hotel
and the Ela Beach International School.”
The Port Moresby Yacht Club allows artists to sell in their premises only on Independence Day and other major events.
“The Government should provide us with proper location where we can sell our works,” Danger said.
“There should be a gallery in Port Moresby for us to sell our works.”
He said prices for paintings were not fixed due to bargaining and competition among many artists.
“If we sell at the gallery, then the prices will be fixed and we can make good money.”