Bis Pole

ca. 1960

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 350

The most spectacular sculptures of the Asmat people of southwest New Guinea are the ancestor poles known as bis. Made only in a limited area of the Asmat region, bis poles were, and are, created as the focal points of a memorial feast that honors individuals who have died recently and become ancestors. Each figure on the poles represents and is named for a specific individual. In the past, the poles also reminded the living that the dead must be avenged. In Asmat cosmology, death was always caused by an enemy, either directly in war or by malevolent magic. Each death created an imbalance that had to be corrected through the death of an enemy. After a number of individuals in the village had died, the male elders would decide to stage a bis feast, which was formerly held in conjunction with a headhunting raid. Today, a bis feast may be staged to alleviate a specific crisis or in connection with male initiation.

Each bis pole is carved from a single piece of wood. To create the pole’s distinctive form, carvers select trees with plank-like buttress roots. During carving, all but one of the roots are removed, and the tree is inverted, so that the remaining root forms the wing-like projection (cemen) at the top. Bis poles consist of several components. The main section (bis anakat) with the carved figures portrays the deceased individual for whom the pole is named, who is shown at the top, and other recently deceased relatives, who appear below. The cemen represents the pole’s phallus and incorporates motifs symbolic of headhunting, which is also associated with fertility. The lower portion of the pole is called the ci (canoe) and at times depicts the canoe that transported the ancestors to the afterworld (safan). The pointed base (bino) is often inserted into the ground.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

References

Title: Bis Pole
Artist: Bifarq
Date: ca. 1960
Geography: Indonesia, Papua Province (Irian Jaya), Otsjanep village, Ewta River
Culture: Asmat people
Medium: Wood, paint, fiber
Dimensions: H. 17 ft. 3 1/2 in. × W. 19 1/2 in. × D. 48 in. (527.1 × 49.5 × 121.9 cm)
Classification: Wood-Sculpture
Credit Line: The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection; Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller and Mrs. Mary C. Rockefeller, 1965
Object Number: 1978.412.1252
Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing

Audio

1709. Bisj (ancestor poles), Asmat artists

Maia Nuku

0:00

MAIA NUKU: Asmat ceremonial life really is aimed at appeasing the spirits of the dead.

I am Maia Nuku and I am the curator for Oceania here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The bisj poles are really the focal point of a festival, a bisj mbu, which was staged to commemorate recently deceased members of the community.

KATERINA TEAIWA (NARRATOR): When a community member died, their soul could linger, creating misfortune and imbalance. In order to restore balance, the Asmat held a series of feasts and rituals, including one where they staked a group of bisj poles into the ground…

MAIA NUKU: …facing the river and that aligns with protocols in the way that the dead are buried with their feet towards the river. The river is the road to the sea and beyond the sea is Safan, the realm of the ancestors.

KATERINA TEAIWA: Canoes symbolically transport the dead westward, down the river and towards the afterlife.

MAIA NUKU: So they really serve as a ritual canoe, and in fact, there are canoe elements carved into the iconography of the bisj pole itself.

KATERINA TEAIWA: You’ll see canoe-like forms on some of the lower sections of the poles. And at the top, you’ll see human figures. They’re stylized, with rounded faces and flat hands and feet typical of Asmat carving. Each represents a specific, recently-deceased individual.

MAIA NUKU: After the bisj ceremony, the bisj poles are actually dismantled and taken apart and taken into the sago palm groves or the swamps and allowed to naturally decay. And that energy kind of flows back into the earth when those bisj poles are allowed to deteriorate, to rot and decay. And that energy will be used to... it’s kind of transferred into the soil to nourish the next cycle of sago palm, which is an important resource for the community.

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Bis Pole, Wood, paint, fiber, Asmat people — Bis Pole
Asmat people
late 1950s

Ancestor Pole, Wood, paint, Asmat people — Ancestor Pole
Asmat people
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Ancestor Pole, Wood, paint, Asmat — Ancestor Pole
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Bis Pole, Terepos, Wood, paint, fiber, Asmat people — Bis Pole
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