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The Meaning Behind The Asmats

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Asmats are a small group of people from New Guinea who reside along the Southwest coast of the Papua Province of Indonesia. Once a cannibalistic, hostile people, the Asmat have only recently opened their doors and their artwork is slowly becoming world-renowned. The Asmats are mainly known for their woodcarvings and specifically their Bisj Poles. Bisj Poles are giant woodcarvings that commemorate a fallen Asmat and are erected for feasts in memory of that person (Metropolitan Museum). Standing sometimes as tall as twenty-five feet high, the poles beg the question of what purpose they have, whether it be religious, a symbol of power or just decorative and what meaning they had towards the Asmat people. To understand the meaning behind these
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