 The Huli Wigmen in full flight at the Mt. Hagen Show |
 It's show week in Mount Hagen, and the clans have gathered to pit their spirit traditions against those of many of the 700 groups which make Papua New Guinea the most anthropologically compelling nation of all. They've been coming here, and to Goroka and Post Moresby, since the 1950s, when some fortunately far-sighted Australian administrators conceived the idea of staging large annual 'sing sings' so that ancient traditional enemies could come together on neutral ground and perhaps recognise common interests and practices. There are women with vivid face tattoos, painted men who materialise with menacing gestures and disappear before you can formulate a response, and oblivious babies bound tightly to the shining bodies of undulating mothers. This piece comes with graphic and vivid photography.
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