living
art
An artist reborn
Grace Maribu meets Larry Santana, a PNG artist who has rediscovered his creativity.
My true inspiration comes from legends, our local culture, spirits, the land and sea.
L
arry Santana is a legend in contemporary arts in Papua New Guinea. Anyone in PNG who knows art will tell you that. With 34 years of practicing and teaching art, 50 national and international exhibitions, two US university artist-in-residence postings, many commissioned works and pieces sold overseas and locally, Santana is the best known contemporary fine artist in the country. His works adorn the inside of the National Parliament House, galleries in Germany and the US, many homes and offices, and profiled in The Contemporary Pacific, the academic journal published by University of Hawaii that provides comprehensive coverage of developments in the Pacific. Santana has also been recognised by Divine Word University in its publication Inspirational People: Role Models for a Developing Nation
80 Paradise – Air Niugini’s in-flight magazine
where, together with leading Papua New Guineans, he was honoured for contributing to nation building in his field. But in 2002, Larry Santana went into a 14-year artistic hibernation, partly because of the hardships faced as an independent fine artist trying to make a living. Today, however, Santana is making a return to the arts scene in PNG. Santana was born in 1962 in Ramu Valley, Madang Province. At Tusbab High School, he took art classes from a New Zealand art teacher who stimulated his creative skills and helped him gain admittance to Goroka Technical College. In 1982, he graduated from the National Arts School with a diploma in fine arts and graphic design, and had his first exhibition the next year. This led to various exhibitions, both locally and in Germany, Australia and