Details

Object type

painting

Title

Buka War

Artist/Maker

Mathias Kauage artist

Culture/School

Chimbu

Date

1990

Materials

acrylic on canvas

Dimensions

unframed: 1250 x 1755 mm; framed: 1300 x 1803 x 65 mm

Description

For over a decade the island of Bougainville and its neighbour Buka in Papua New Guinea became the site of a civil war which grew out of opposition to the Panguna mine, one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines. The long conflict was a frequent subject for Mathias Kauage and other Papua New Guinean artists. Kauage used his art to criticise the sometimes ruthless actions of the PNG Defence Force against the Bougainville people, represented here by the small bleeding figure in the background. In this 1990 painting the letters CRT on the bulldozer are the initials of the mining company Conzinc Rio Tinto, while the soldiers with headdresses represent government forces.

Credit Line/Donor

Purchased from Rebecca Hossack Gallery, 1994

ID Number

3546

Location

Kelvingrove Cultural Connections