Bat
Bat play
Hung upside down, this bat was once suspended over a dance ground among other figures, with masks and headdresses also in attendance. It is made out of the fibrous trunk of a tree fern coated with a clay-like mixture of vegetable paste. The use of fernwood to make sculpture is a practice unique to people living on Vanuatu, located to the south of New Guinea, and north of Fiji. During a performance, enormous slit-gong instruments offered booming accompaniment. Whether the bat was cast as an evil or helpful character is still unknown.
Fernwood, dung, and fiber
15 1/2 x 30 1/4 x 16 in. (39.37 x 76.84 x 40.64 cm)
Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
81.17.1437