Traditional Carvings & Ceremonial Art from Papua New Guinea

In 2025, Yalari marks 20 years of educating Indigenous children and empowering future leaders through post-school pathways. To celebrate this milestone, Yalari alumni and current students have created one-of-a-kind artworks reflecting what 20 years of Yalari means to them.

Each piece tells a unique story, blending the artist’s personal journey with Yalari and their cultural heritage.

All proceeds from this auction will be donated to the Yalari Foundation, securing Yalari’s long-term sustainability and creating lasting generational change for Indigenous Australians.

Journey into the heart of Papua New Guinea’s ancestral traditions with this captivating collection of hand-carved ceremonial art from the Sepik River and Papuan Gulf regions. Each piece embodies the deep spiritual connection between people, nature, and the spirit world — a relationship expressed through intricate carvings, bold pigment patterns, and striking symbolic forms.

Included are two traditional Gope spirit boards, carved from hardwood and decorated with natural ochre and lime pigments, once displayed in men’s ceremonial houses to invoke ancestral protection and strength. A ceremonial dance mask, adorned with fine incised linework and organic fibre, represents the powerful spirits of initiation and transformation. Completing the collection is a dramatic ancestral Yipwon figure, its open-body form symbolising vitality and the sacred life force that connects the living with the spirit realm.

Rich in history and artistry, these works capture the essence of Papua New Guinea’s enduring cultural heritage — objects once used not merely for decoration, but for communication with the unseen world. Collectors of tribal and ethnographic art will recognise in these pieces the timeless power, mystery, and spiritual depth that define the masterpieces of the Sepik.