Canoe Board (Gope)

The canoes of the Kiwai people of Kiwai Island and adjacent areas in the western Papuan Gulf were lavishly adorned. They were brightly painted and embellished with ornaments of shell and other materials. Kiwai canoes had a shield-like ornament above the prow that served, in part, as a splashboard, preventing water from entering the canoe. These prow ornaments frequently consisted of carved boards (gope) adorned with stylized human faces that possibly represented the totemic spirit associated with the individual canoe. Mounted with the carved image facing inward, gope had a protective function, safeguarding the crew and ensuring success in warfare or other endeavors. Removed from the canoes, gope served, more broadly, as guardians of the community. Displayed on the gables of the men’s communal longhouses, they were believed to protect the residents from sickness. Ideally, the boards were suspended from lengths of fiber, allowing them to twist freely in the air in order to face the direction from which the disease-bearing beings approached.