PNG Art Evolution

My Painting

Art from a tree trunk or bark and an engraved rock or a cave to a touch screen or a tablet, shall we call it the evolution of art?  This is exactly how the name came about when a group of Papua New Guinea artists met together to collaborate and contribute to the economic development of their country through art in a small way.  

On the 13th of August 2016, 6 Papua New Guinean artists held an Art Exhibition at the Royal Papua Yacht Club in Port Moresby as part of their drive to promote Art and also raise some money to support a worthy cause.  The group was named "PNG Art Evolution" because it fitted well with most of what the group had showcased and also their theme.  I was among the group and was fortunate to coordinate this exhibition along with each member of the group taking responsibilities in various task.

The exhibition showcased art styles ranging from painting, ink drawings, prints, interactive artworks, digital artworks (PNG Fonts), relief art (sculpture), digital art including live art demonstrations.

Participating artists at this exhibition include; Larry Santana, Philemon Yalamu, Albert Joseph, Anderson Habiri, Pax Jakupa and Andrew Santana.  This group of artists represented the different generation of active-practicing artists who are motivated to excell through out-of-the-box thinking and practices.  Though there are many existing artists with similar ambitions, the 6 decided to collaborate and spearhead a new generation of artist who can set long term visions and work towards them.

Four of the Group Members who participated

With the theme "Retrieving the Past, Shaping the Future through Art", the group exhibited varieties of art  from contemporary art to modern art that are practiced in Papua New Guinea.

Since I was part of this group and my personal ambition was/is to see visual art be appreciated by everyone, I decided to do an interactive presentation which I refered to as interactive art or an iArt for short.

The interactive art on tablet (left)

In one of my painting titled "A Nation with Many Cultures", I integrated the artwork into a simple interactive application to allow viewers to interact with the art on a touch monitor and tablet.  This was the first ever interactive art presented in Papua New Guinea that breaks the notion of viewers being spectators or will always be spectators.  This iArt and other similar application to be created in the future, is aimed at changing the perception of viewers from being observers to become participators in the art process.  I wanted to let everyone know that we are all artists in one way or the other and we should be seeing art from a new dimension rather than the old fashion way.  In the past, artists in PNG created their artwork such as paintings, sculpture, crafts etc, then display their work for others to see however, I think this should be the thing of the past because with technology nowadays, we have to take the advantage and take our viewers through the experience of feeling art themselves.  This idea therefore came into play during this exhibition.

Just like I expected, my audience for the exhibition was not the type.  Alot of viewers saw the work however only few reacted to it with great interest and wanting to learn more about it.  The fact that technology is something alot of people are still learning, innovative ideas in PNG pertaining to technology would only be appreciated by those who acknowledge technology. 

The iArt software CD

The interactive Art (iArt) comes as a package that include a painting, an application (software) and a tablet to promote the concept.

What happens is that, whoever purchases the painting, takes the software and the tablet as a bonus.  Whereever the painting is displayed, the software can also accompany it so viewers would be able to use the virtual painting to interact and learn more about the art. 

Thankfully, this first ever interactive art for PNG is now in a new home with the Genia family and will one day become a history, I believe.

Reaching Out - Online Learning

I was invited by a senior staff of Pacific Adventist University (PAU) here in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea in early 2016 to be a guest lecturer to one of their courses "Mass Communications".  I was asked to give presentations on New Media as a component of mass communications.  Since it was one of my intentions and passion to share digital knowledge with students throughout the country, I accepted the invite.  I however, reasized that my schedules were extremely tight so I had to think of a way to make it possible for all parties-the students, the university and for myself.

Philemon Yalamu presenting on "The Evolution of Presentations"

I resolved to online learning so I immediately logged into my Edmodo account and set up a classroom then invited the students.  I liaised with Mrs. Rebecca Thomas, the Associate Lecturer of the School of Arts and Humanities to get the lectures and online sessions going and eventually got everyone online.  I actually organized few pre-sessions with the students weeks before meeting them face-to-face.  Since its going to be the first time for me to meet these students, I thought it would be better to give them some experience using an online classroom prior to giving them online exercises which will prepare them for their presentations assignments. 

Edmodo - the online classroom

I have been using online learning in some of my private lectures with some of my corporate clients and therefore had experiences of how effective learning can be.  In fact, alot of time I've committed myself to multi-tasking and found that time is always against me.  Using organised lessons for my private classes as well as outreaching online lectures had helped me achieved much of what I intend to do.  At the time of my engagement with PAU, I was also doing full-time lecturing at the University of Papua New Guinea and also traveling to other provinces to assist with the GBV Data Collection training with UNDP, and this idea fitted well.  

Prezi - interactive presentation software

The contents of what I delivered online were derived from researches based on concerned subjects as well as personal experiences.  I believed in interactive learning (computer interaction) and therefore tried as much to get students involved in online learning as one of the means. The process of learning which the students were taken through involves various modes of computer interactions such as videos, online classroom, email and via interactive applications such as using Prezi.

Students and Staff participating at one of the presentations

For this lot of students, I started off by developing a step-by-step guideline for them to follow along.  I uploaded it on the tutorial page of my website for them to download and follow along.  I also sent the links for the log-in page to their emails so they can directly access the page to get in.  Within the first 24 hours, half of the students gained access to this online classroom and posted something on the noticeboard.  There were few who found it difficult at first so they had to contact me for more help.  I've also noted that students were having difficulty accessing the internet using the network provided by the university so some of them used their mobile devices to log into the classroom.  

By the end of the second week and just before our first contact, everyone was able to log into the online classroom.  I then posted a task for the students to follow prior to our contact which over 90 percent of them did.  Just a few of them who did not complete the task were guided through during our first contact.  The reasons behind them not completing was due to technical limitations which we sorted out with the Information Technology department of the university.

Students and Staff listening to one the presentation

The moment came for me to do my first presentation.  There was a good number of both students and staff, though it was small about 20 altogether in one of the labs.  The first presentation I did was on "The Evolution of Presentation" where I talked about the different periods and stages of presentations from the traditional blackboard presentations to whiteboard, to analogue projectors then to digital projectors and gave a brief insight of where the future presentations might head us into.

There was total concentration in everyone and I felt satisfied when the presentation was over.  We had questions and answers then ended the session.  The lecturer for the course gave assurance to the students that there would be another lecture in the coming weeks to proceed on where we left.  It confirmed to me that the presentation had influenced these students and my motivation to share digital knowledge was elated by the spirits I get from such interactions with the institution.