Dance Headdress Papua New Guinea, New Britain, c. 1880 Wood, fiber, bark strips, shell, cassowary feathers, and pigment Purchased with funds provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation with additional funding by Jane and Terry Semel, the David Bohnett Foundation, Camilla Chandler Frost, Gayle and Edward P. Roski and The Ahmanson Foundation M.2008.66.5
This headdress, recognizable as Sulka (a New Guinean culture) by its conical base and originally vibrant coloring, is meant to be seen in movement. Created over months in secrecy by Sulka men, it towers over viewers while worn in ceremonial dances commemorating life transitions such as initiation, marriage, or death. The figure transforms into the spirit ancestors it represents in dance, transforming the wearer in turn through their divine powers. Afterwards, the headdress is destroyed.
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