Trobriand Carvers

BY OSEAH PHILEMON

THE famous Trobriand Island carvings are now being made in Lae – thanks to one man who wants his people’s hard wood art to generate more cash income for them.

Timothy Ahab is a Lae resident who originally comes from the ‘Islands of Love’ and has made Lae his home.

But while he pursues his own interests away from his island home he still shows concern for his own people back in the islands – so far away scattered over the blue seas.

Mr Ahab says his people have very little opportunity to earn any regular cash income and that is why he is doing all he can to help them.

He is a buyer of his people’s carvings and artefacts which he buys from the islands and brings to Lae to resell. There are enough carvings on the market for anyone who wants to do bulk buying of the Trobriand art whether here in PNG or overseas.

Mr Ahab himself is planning on staging an exhibition of Trobriand carvings in Sydney or anywhere in Australia to showcase his people’s incredible talent in turning hard wood into works of art that are in demand all over the world.

He is looking for help – a venue for the exhibition in a place that is accessible to the public to come and see for themselves what some of the most illiterate people can produce with their hands. High sea and air freight costs have always been a deterrent to the islanders preventing them from bringing their carvings to Lae or Port Moresby to sell.

But Mr Ahab has found a way around this problem. He is flying the master carvers from their home villages to Lae where they work and enjoy life in the Morobean capital for a change. Nearly all of those who have been flown to Lae so far have never left home – let along fly in an Air Niugini F100 jet aircraft from Port Moresby to Lae.

Mr Ahab says that at home the work rate for the carvers is rather slow with them doing other things like gardening or fishing or building houses apart from carving. But in Lae all they do is carve all day and well into the night - and this has boosted their productivity level.

They are now producing more works of art in Lae than they have ever done back in the islands. With the aid of electrical machinery at their disposal the carvers are excited about the speed at which they are working and the products they are able to bring out.

Timothy Ahab is a humble Trobriand Islander who says he will continue to spend money to fly his carvers from the islands to Lae to carve art which he buys and puts money into their pockets for their families. Trobriand carvings are a high quality work of traditional Papua New Guinea art.

It has its own standard but one in great demand by carving lovers. Anyone interested in buying the premium Trobriand Island carvings can contact Mr Ahab on telephone numbers 472-6911 or 76992817.

His e-mail address is: premiumtravel@datec.net.pg.