View our collection of visual art submissions from artists in West Papua, the Pacific and internationally. We celebrate these artistic expressions in solidarity with West Papua.
Artist: Caleb Hamm
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Brief Bio:
Canadian visual artist, Caleb Hamm, works in a variety of media. His artwork widely varies in subject matter, though a strong vein of social justice runs through much of his paintings. Having been born in Papua New Guinea and having the first decade of his life influenced by Melanesian culture, his artwork often reflects various aspects of this influence. West Papua’s ongoing genocide has become a repeated subject in his portfolio over the last 10 years. Visual art has the potential voice of reaching a broad audience and is not hindered by language barriers. As more and more of the world learns about the atrocities being committed in West Papua, the voice of solidarity grows in strength and volume. |
Artists: Rico Redoblado & Malia Vaurasi
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Brief Bios:
Rico is a tax accountant by profession who was born in the Philippines and raised in Fiji. He believes that artistic creativity goes beyond paintings and sketches expressed on paper and canvases. Read more about Rico HERE. Malia is from Rotuman, in the beautiful islands of Fiji and has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in both Sociology and Psychology and a Postgraduate Degree in Sociology. She is currently pursuing her Masterʻs Degree in Sociology. In her artworks for Youngsolwara, she integrated her passion for art and justice in the Pacific aiming to inspire change. Read more about Malia HERE. |
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Title: Don’t keep silent in the face of Genocide (2015)
Medium: Acrylic on canvas Size: Not specified Description: This Piece attempts to portray Indonesia’s ability to act with impunity due to the silence of world leaders on the ongoing genocide of the West Papuans. |
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Title: Morning Star (2015)
Medium: Acrylic on canvas Size: 68.5cm X 30.75 inches Description: This piece attempts to portray how peacefully raising the Morning Star Flag in West Papua had led to the arrests of many peaceful protestors by the Indonesian security forces. For this peaceful act of resistance with their human right to freedom of expression, West Papuans risk their lives being violently beaten and detained. |
Artist: Yanto Gombo
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Brief Bio:
Yanto Gombo is a young West Papuan artist. He was born in 1996, in Wolo, Highland of West Papua. He started as an autodidact painter, then later went to study arts at ISBI Tanah Papua, the Institute of Arts and Culture of Papua. |
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Title: Papuan Woman
Medium: Acrylic on canvas Size: Unknown Description: This painting is dedicated to the YoungSolwara campaign. |
Artists: Vuetasau Buatoka Jnr & Alex Honale
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Title: Arise Pacifika
Medium: Acrylic on canvas Size: 36.5 X 37.5 inches Description: Painting on canvas depicts the nations of the pacific region in supporting west Papua’s struggle to self-determination and decolonization Cataloguing |
Artist: Joy Enomoto
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Brief Bio:
As a Black, Kanaka Maoli, Japanese, Scottish, Caddo and Punjabi visual artist, Joy engages with issues of climate justice, plantation genealogies and the memory of violence within land and seascapes. Concerned primarily with issues impacting Oceania, Joy's work combines drawing, printmaking, fiber art and photography. Driven by our ancestors, our rivers and our mountains, her process is not an individual practice, She is committed to collaborating with other artists/writers and communities who are fighting for social justice and the protection of our sacred lands and waters. Ream more about Joy HERE. |
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Title: Nemangkawi is Our Mother/ Papua Merdeka
Medium: Walnut Ink/ Acrylic paint Size: 8 X 8 inches (20.32cm X 20.32 cm Description: Nemangkawi is Our Mother/ Papua Merdeka is in honor of the Amungme tribe of West Papua, who call the mountain that the Grasberg Freeport mine Nemangkawi. They believe that the tops of mountains are sacred, that the land is their mother, and her rivers are her milk. The desecration of the mine is akin to carving out and poisoning her womb. The Indonesian military protects this violent extraction and has been committing a systematic genocide on the children of Nemangkawi for sixty years. The people and the land are one, Papua Merdeka! |
Title: Beating Hearts for Papua
Description:
Produced in 2015, Joy Enomoto created a series under the Nautilus the Protect against Deep Sea Mining in the Pacific. This pieces is in solidarity with West Papua through Youngsolwara and the We Bleed Black and Red Campaign. |
Title: Wansolwara Voices for West Papua
Description:
This submission is the collaborative work of Joy Lehuanani Enomoto and Bafinuc Ilai. It is a linocut print cover of a book of poetry and visual art made at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa entitled Wansolwara Voices for West Papua (2015) |
Artists: Mikael Kudiai
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Brief Bio:
Mikael Kudiyai is an activist and organiser. He is the coordinator of the Association of Papuan Indigenous Market vendors in Nabire, West Papua. Along with his friends' activists, they have organised Indigenous Papuan women vendors to advocate and promote their rights to have a better marketplace in town, in Nabire. |
Title: NAGII
Medium: Installation
Size: 2m X 3m
Description:
In the Mee language (vernacular of Mee tribe in the highland of West Papua), Nagii means "Please hit me". This word is often said when people are trying to defend themselves when they are under oppression or repressed. We use this expression to describe the current situation of women who are every day making (weaving) the traditional string bags or noken. What they have experienced as their realities is an example of how culture is contradicted directly to capitalism in West Papua.
Capitalism has offered many things in a way to change the Papuan cultures. With many bag products made of plastic bags, it become more popular since it has been produced in a massive number. However, plastic bags never can replace the function of Noken, the traditional string bag. Noken can carry more stuff such as groceries, garden products, fish, etc. Noken is environmentally friendly.
In December 2012, UNESCO announced Noken as one of the World Heritage for the intangible product. Culturally, West Papuan people believe that Noken has a soul. However, now Noken has become just a souvenir. Creating this artwork is also to promote Noken and to support women who spend their time producing Noken as a symbol of pride. We want to introduce Noken as not only a bag, but as something which has soul and is meaningful to people's life.
Medium: Installation
Size: 2m X 3m
Description:
In the Mee language (vernacular of Mee tribe in the highland of West Papua), Nagii means "Please hit me". This word is often said when people are trying to defend themselves when they are under oppression or repressed. We use this expression to describe the current situation of women who are every day making (weaving) the traditional string bags or noken. What they have experienced as their realities is an example of how culture is contradicted directly to capitalism in West Papua.
Capitalism has offered many things in a way to change the Papuan cultures. With many bag products made of plastic bags, it become more popular since it has been produced in a massive number. However, plastic bags never can replace the function of Noken, the traditional string bag. Noken can carry more stuff such as groceries, garden products, fish, etc. Noken is environmentally friendly.
In December 2012, UNESCO announced Noken as one of the World Heritage for the intangible product. Culturally, West Papuan people believe that Noken has a soul. However, now Noken has become just a souvenir. Creating this artwork is also to promote Noken and to support women who spend their time producing Noken as a symbol of pride. We want to introduce Noken as not only a bag, but as something which has soul and is meaningful to people's life.
Artists: Students from the University of Goroka & Divine Word University (PNG)
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Brief Bio:
This is a collaborative piece by students from the University of Goroka with students from Divine Word University in Papua New Guinea. Richard Mogu, Kurohane Malia, Rico Redoblado, Poin Caspar, and Wina Kayonga. |
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Title: Wansolwara Unification
Medium: Acrylic on canvas Medium: 53.5 X 45.5 inches Description: Painting on canvas depicts the connection between a free PNG and a Captive West Papua. |
Artist: Arnie Saiki
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Brief Bio:
Arnie Saiki is a writer, activist, artist, and organizer focusing on regional economic and geopolitical themes in the Asia and Pacific regions. He was the coordinator for the Moana Nui conferences, a partnership between the International Forum on Globalization and Pua Mohala I Ka Po and has been campaigning on issues around trade, development, militarization and the environment in the Pacific. |
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Description:
Reweaving the Morning Star represents the long journey inscribed with the names of those who have sacrificed their lives for a just and equitable freedom. Unravelling the threads of our occupation is liberation. Papua Merdeka. |
Artist: Tyler-Rae Chung
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Brief Bio:
Tyler-Rae Chung is Fijian youth activist and part of the Pacific Youth Council (PYC). She is a young Pacific marine conservationist. |
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Title: Her Body and Her Spirit
Medium: Acrylic on canvas Size: 16.5 X 27.5 Description: Description: Inspired by the lack of media coverage on the women of West Papua.
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Artist: Philemon Yalamu
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Brief Bio:
An indigenous artist from New Guinea, the land that is divided during colonial era; Philemon is a fine artist, a digital painter, web designer/ developer, an educator, researcher and has various other skills and expertise. Philemon argues that the island of New Guinea - second largest in the world, where West Papua and Papua New Guinea are situated, should not have been divided during colonial days. The inhabitants of Papua are Melanesians who share the same culture and should have been regarded as one people living on one land mass. |
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Title: We are Melanesians - From Sorong to Samarai
Medium: Digital Painting/ Illustration Size: 20 X 13 inches Year: 2019 Description: This digital painting expresses the fact that West Papua and Papua New Guinea share a land mass, only divided by an imaginary line created during colonial period, making us look as if we were of a different race. West Papuans are Melanesians, the original inhabitants of the land our ancestors lived on and now we continue to live on. The imaginary border does not and will not change the fact that we are one people, we have the same cultural identity, from Sorong to Samarai. |
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Title: Merdeka Medium: Digital Painting/ Illustration Size: 11.7 X 16.5 inches Year: 2019 Description: This digital painting depicts the call for fellow brothers and sisters in West Papua to seek justice and freedom for the struggles generations have gone through on the Island of West Papua. |
Artist: Peter Emberson
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Title: Our Enduring Morning Star
Medium: Painting Size: Unknown Year: Unknown Description: This piece entitled ‘Our Enduring Morning Star’ was painted in December 2014 in Gaylord, Michigan, USA. The acrylic on board painting was created with pallet knives, brushes and scratching technique. The rough artistic molding of the crucified Lord Jesus represents ‘Our Enduring Morning Star’ (2 Peter 1:19/ Revelations 2:28). The crucified Jesus is mounted against the Morning Star flag as an invitation to struggle. Peter Emberson says the painting is an invitation to all Christians to become part of the struggle for justice of the crucified people of West Papua. A hunger and search for justice and liberation is one of the cornerstones of Christianity. |
Artist: In Memory of Vetasau Buatoka Jnr
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Brief Bio:
(Kabara, Lau/Nairai, Lomaiviti – Fiji Islands) Vuetasau’s gift to the Youngsolwara Pacific were these art pieces. We honour his memory and his activism to West Papua and the freedom of Pacific peoples. The Kundu drum was Vue’s public declaration; his personal manifesto for living a life wholly committed to the West Papuan struggle for independence. As a Youngsolwaran, the Kundu as metaphor, was Vue’s bold and unequivocal call to action. The voices of the ancestor’s hovering in three dimensional space and time; provocative and inspirational, in his role as President for the Tikina Kabara Youth or member of the Lau Provincial Youth Council (2015) or chair of village sub-committees addressing issues of climate change (2016); the Kundu drum resonates because Kabara Lauans are themselves renowned artisans, spiraling four-dimensional harmony through kinship and singsing(/sigidrigi) echoing harmonically through hardened wood, centered precisely and blackened internally with charcoal. As an indigenous, i-taukei, the black marker pen at geometric intervals outlines the entire painting, referencing cubism and Pablo Picasso’s ‘finger up to the establishment,’ activists whose art captures the atrocities and inhumanity of war, Vue’s Kundu drum was not created for the art market, or to be framed and placed behind Perspex glass cases, but as canvas to be rolled up and out, as banners held high, in the hot sun or pouring rain as symbol of resistance. |
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Title: West Papuan Lives Matter
Medium: Acrylic on canvas Size: 68.5 X 40 inches Description: The painting depicts the cruel reality of ethnic Genocide in west Papua committed by Indonesia. |
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Title: Kundu Drum
Medium: Acrylic on canvas Size: 16 X 27 inches Description: This painting depicts the West Papua Kundu drums beating the sounds of Freedom! |
Artist: Arison Kul
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Brief Bio:
Arison, or Akul, is a self-taught artist from Papua New Guinea. He resides in Lae, and found his artistic talents through necessity in 2003. When life was not going as planned, he decided to occupy his time through art. Originally he sold on the streets of Lae, around business houses and busy intersections. Arison is grateful that his switch to Facebook sales has erased his life quite considerably. As a self-taught artist, Arison taught himself how to paint by looking through any art books that he could find in second-hand bookshops. He soon realized that his artworks were being bought by foreigners residing in Lae, and also by local residents. Arison's art has reached places like the US, Europe and in Australia. He draws his inspiration from fellow PNG artists, in particular Jeffrey Feegar for his style and use of colour, and Laben Sakale for his overall style. He also credits his inspiration to the "Old Masters", Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. Arison expresses that his aim is to create as much art as he can. |
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Title: Lean On Me
Medium: Acrylic on canvas Size: 93 X 59 cm Description: The painting portrays fighting, war, death, and mourning. It needs more people to come together to feel the pain, mourn together, stand together and fight through for victory. |
Artist: Dan Taulapapa McMullin
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Brief Bio:
Dan Taulapapa McMullin is an American Samoan artist, known for his poetry, visual art and film. His major themes are his indigenous Samoan heritage and his fa'afafine gender identity. McMullin has been creating literary and artistic works for over 35 years, and is an international established artist. He works in a variety of literary styles and visual art modes. Dan describes this series of West Papua-themed pieces (West Papua 1,2,3,4) as sad and painful, adding that it was his inner feelings that struck him to do these paintings. |
Artist: Katarina R T Ligaitamana
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Brief Bio:
Katarina R T Ligaitamana is a final year student at Kyung Hee University, South Korea. She is majoring in International Relations. She is currently taking a break from studies in Fiji, exploring art and discovering all forms of art. Katarina is also an activist advocating for human rights for all, women’s rights, and climate justice. |
Title: Blue Shackle
Medium: Acrylic on paper Size: unspecified Description: The total loss of freedom to one, from their own home, land and country. Controlled by systems that manipulate their rights and freedom. Bloodshed, hurt, cries, ignored and captured by elites that keep them silent from the world. |
Title: The Dark Voyage
Medium: Acrylic on paper Size: unspecified Description: A canoe set sail looking for a place settle. The black moon doesn't change color because of all the darkness and evil following, yet, there is a little hope and faith to set you free. |
Artist: Chan Anivai
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Brief Bio:
Chan Anivai is a digital artist known as SHAWK23. He is a full-time freelance graphic/motion designer and illustrator. “I come from the beautiful land of Papua New Guinea, a country that shares its border with our pressed brothers and sisters. I love creating artwork that takes a traditionally cultural idea and give it a fresh modern twist. I have been in the creative industry for close to 7 years.” |
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Title: Freedom Warrior
Medium: Digital Illustration Size: 20cm X 17cm Description: This piece was inspired by an image of a West Papuan woman shouting with a fist in the air during a protest in 2019. Her stance reminded me of Wonder Woman and inspired me to do this illustration of a Warrior Woman standing up for freedom and the end to the genocide of the West Papuan People. It was created to inspire hope, bravery, and strength to all those who have committed their lives to fight the good fight to decolonize and truly free West Papua. |
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Title: They Will Bend and Soon Break
Medium: Digital Illustration Size: 20cm X 17cm Description: This piece was created to inspire Hope in all the men and women who have dedicated their lives to tirelessly fight to Free West Papua. It depicts a West Papuan man pulling prison bars apart. This is to symbolize the message of hope and perseverance - to never give up on the good fight. To test, to pull, to bend till it breaks. To keep fighting no matter the cost - eventually, the prison bars will bend... and they will break! |
Artist: Amish Naresh
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Brief Bio:
Amish comes from Fiji and he is a licensed dental therapist who graduated from Fiji National University. Amish is also an artist and uses his works to advocate for global nuclear justice and anti-discrimination. He loves basketball, badminton and a little volleyball too. Read more about Amish HERE. |
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Title: Untitled
Medium: Acrylic on canvas Size: Not Specified Description: No description provided. |
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Title: Unmask The Colonizer.
Medium: Medium Size: ?? X ?? cm/ inches Description: No description provided. |
Artist: Krystal Juffa
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Krystal Juffa is a writer, singer and poet from Papua New Guinea and Samoa.
She is also an artist, songwriter, a journalist and activist. Her poem “What Freedom should look like” is about the pain and suffering West Papua continues to overcome. |
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Title: How Many More is Enough?
Medium: Acrylic on canvas Size: Not specified Description: Must we see only in black and white the suffering of our brethren in West Papua who have bled tirelessly - Whose children must bend to the oppressor. We must stand in solidarity I raise the flag for my people of West Papua. |