Spirit Board

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Culture Kerewa

Title Spirit Board (Gope, Titi Ebiha)

Date Unknown

Medium Wood and pigment

Dimensions Object: 44 1/2 × 6 × 3/4 in. (113 × 15.2 × 1.9 cm)
Overall: 44 1/2 x 6 x 3/4 in. (113 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm)

Credit Line Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University

Accession Number 76.42.2

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About this Work

In the Gulf of Papua, male clan members kept spirit boards in shrines in communal houses, believing that each board embodied a spirit assoicated with a particular geogrphic feature on their land. The images on the boards depict the faces and navels of the spirts, and, depending on local conventions, may also show arms, body, and legs.

Spirit boards are perhaps the most abundant traditional visual art form of the peoples of the Gulf of Papua, reflecting an emphasis on two-dimensionality and a tendency toward outlining in low relief and color seen on most other objects from the area.

Provenance
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Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Spirit Board | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=76.42.2