The exhibition brings together context, dissenting voices, and current examples. This unfolds a story of resilience and imagination: deeply rooted in place and past, yet focused on a just, green future. Come see, think along, and discover why now—more than ever—it’s time for Papua.
The objects reflect regional networks and the international influences that have shaped, but also threatened, Papuan worlds. The impact of Christianity and the destructive consequences of mining and plantation economies are visible in the collection.
Now that the Papuan region is facing ecological and humanitarian crises, the collection takes on even greater significance in the West, especially for the Papuans in New Guinea and the diaspora, such as in the Netherlands.
The exhibition provides a platform for their stories and is a call to understand Papuan art in its full context, with respect for the Indigenous worlds and their future.
An exhibition of stature
With nearly 50,000 objects, the Wereldmuseum manages the world’s largest Papua collection from western New Guinea. The origins of this collection are closely linked to Dutch colonisation, the appeal of the objects to European avant-garde artists in the twentieth century, and recent artistic relations between the Netherlands and Papua.
The objects tell the stories of Papuan cultures, their craft traditions, and worldviews, in which time is not linear and the past, present, and future can exist simultaneously.
