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Rights Holder and Contact
Skinner-Jones, Ann
Description
Watemohbat' is an owl. This sculpture of Watemohbat is of cobwebs and clay painted with natural minerals. In 1981, it was hanging in the Labo central meeting hall. Translation of words below this art work: 'Watemohbat' is a 'woknait' (work night or owl). S/he (belongs to) everyone from Obmobage. (Obmobage is a place high in the mountains behind South West Bay.) That 'bitsin' (pigeon/bird), sometimes is like woman. Sometimes s/he changes into a snake. But (s/he is) a 'wok nait'. When s/he shits (in the) middle of Obmobage village roads (someone) must die. But sometimes a person is just very sick and recovers. S/he is still at work like this for all the Obmobage kinship groups (lines). Translation by Lamont Lindstrom, University of Tulsa, and Anthropologist Joan Larcom. The pagan people who lived in the highlands as late as the 1970's, including Obmobage, had all migrated to the mission villages by the mid-1980's. UC San Diego Library, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0175 (https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/contact) Revival of art decorates meeting hall 1981 Wintua, Watemohbat is an owl
Type
image
Identifier
ark:/20775/bb8946934x
Language
No linguistic content
Subject
Signs Art Meeting houses Oceania Pacific Islands Melanesia South West Bay (Malakula, Vanuatu) Labo (Malekula, Vanuatu) Land and Custom Sustained and Revived
Place
Oceania Pacific Islands Melanesia South West Bay (Malakula, Vanuatu) Labo (Malekula, Vanuatu)
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