Paper short abstract:

Driving by an archival research in the Anthony Forge Papers at UCSD, this presentation will explain how in Papua New Guinea, colorization is conceptualized as a way to give life to things and to create « attachment between persons and things » (Gell, 1998 p. 83).

Paper long abstract:

In his unpublished and undated paper (circa 1976) « Art as an action in Papua New Guinea », Anthony Forge remarks that in PNG « mineral colours and vegetable dyes were employed on virtually every surface » (Forge undated, p. 3). He uses Gell's idea of « the relationship between colour and natural processes » (Gell 1975, p. 320), that he calls the « vegetative fecundity », to show that in PNG, the colorization is the most artistic activity and that the « artistic process is the creation of power » made « visually apparent » thanks to paints. Based on his fieldwork in Abelam where « painting is a sacred activity, (…) all supernaturally powerful substances are classified as paint, and (…) art relies very much for its effects on the brightness and magnificence of polychrome painting » (Forge 1970, p. 279), it seems that this unpublished text can be considered as crucial to show the link between Forge concept of « power » and Gell concept on « agency » mediate by their reflexion about colour efficacy in PNG. Driving by an archival research I did in the Anthony Forge Papers at the University of California San Diego, this presentation will explain how in PNG, colorization is conceptualized as a way to give life to things - « life is a power to invent the visible » wrote Merleau-Ponty (1995, p.248) - and to create « attachment between persons and things » (Gell, 1998 p. 83).