MUNDURUCU
New Guinea is a large island north of Australia, home to an extraordinary range of peoples and languages. Its western regions form part of Indonesia, while the east belongs to Papua New Guinea.
Tattooing was important among several coastal communities. Motu, Roro-speaking and other women received extensive designs, sometimes built up in stages as they grew older. Geometric lines and animal motifs could express beauty, maturity or social relationships.
Patterns could move between skin and other surfaces. Among the Ömie, women preserved clan designs associated with tattooing through painted barkcloth. The design continued even when its material changed.
Shell ornaments, featherwork and carved objects offered further ways to decorate the body. The portraits show striking differences between places, rather than one Papuan style. Some old photographs also enhanced tattoos through retouching, making the visible patterns bolder than they were on the skin.