In most Western cultures, important messages are communicated in print. Many other cultures around the world, however, communicate important messages through pictures. One such culture is found in Wewak, Papua New Guinea, among speakers of the Kwoma language.
Meet Nanias, a ‘custodian’ of the Kwoma visual language, and Peter Brook, a Wycliffe Australia member, who worked together to document the complex visual ‘languages’ of bark painting, carving and dance of the Kwoma people, and translate the Bible into the language.
This artwork is amazing to me, but to the Kwoma people, it’s more than beautiful: the artwork in this slideshow uses the traditional designs and images of the Kwoma people to tell the story of the Bible in their heart language.
EthnoArts work isn’t just about visual art, and isn’t just going on in Papua New Guinea. Check out this video about EthnoArts work in Cameroon!
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- Gen 1:10-13, about creation of plant life
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- Gen 1:14-19, about the creation of the sun, moon and stars
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- Gen 1:20-25, about creation of animals
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- The birth of Christ
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- The feeding of the five thousand
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- The last supper
This article first appeared on Wycliffe UK’s blog: