A Devoted Asmat Woodcarver

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Herman Omordow

Herman Omordow uses his spare time making Asmat wood carvings. Thanks to his devotion to his work, he was presented an award by the state in 2011. He has also won wood carving prizes several times at the Asmat Cultural Festival.

Bare-chested, Herman assiduously tapped a small chisel on a wooden slab measuring 30 by 15 centimeters. Every now and then he frowned and paused a moment to gauge the pared part of the motif.

The wooden slab gradually began to show a carved image of a cassowary. "A piece of carving like this, if done with focus, usually takes two days to finish," he said at his village in mid-October 2021.

Also read:

Arfak Parotia Attracts Visitors to Papuan Highlands

What he meant by “focus” was to do the woodworking the whole day without being interrupted by other activity. Otherwise, it would take around a week, he said. He does the wood carving purely out of passion. Collectors or visitors come to buy his work.

Herman is one of the Asmat tribe’s well-known woodcarvers from Sawaerma district, Asmat regency, Papua. Intricately but neatly detailed and shaped, his works are appealing to art lovers. His achievement in the Asmat Cultural Festival proves his wood carving prowess.

The participant with the best work can earn tens of millions of rupiah.

The annual cultural festival, which has been held since 1981, is a grand cultural celebration of the Asmat peoples. Hundreds of woodcarvers, known in the Asmat language as wow cescu ipits, participate in the festival. The participant with the best work can earn tens of millions of rupiah.

Er village in Sawaerma district, where Herman lives, can be reached in about an hour by motorized boat from Agats, the administrative seat of Asmat regency. Like the other villages in Asmat, homes are built on a swamp. The residents live in wooden houses on stilts. A wooden bridge connects one house to another to allow people to move between them.

Hereditary

Away from the urban hustle and bustle, wood carving skills are ingrained strongly in every member of the tribe as an inheritance naturally passed on for generations. Herman, who did not finish his junior high school, has built his expertise through learning from his forebears and practicing it. As a child, he used to watch his grandfather being engrossed with carving tools on a wood slab.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Herman Omordow

He followed attentively every detailed tap of the carving tool into forming a motif. The memorizing grew stronger the more time he spent watching the activity. He tried himself to carve a wood trunk he had collected from the forest.

Asmat woodcarvings and sculptures are closely related to traditional festivity and rituals. In the past, some wooden sculptures used to carry a motive for tribal revenge. When a family member died during a tribal war, the surviving family members would make a sculpture in remembrance of the dead.

The dedicated sculpture was to perpetuate the animosity that had led to the demise of their family member and the carver would seek revenge. "That was then. Now we make sculptures to commemorate our deceased grandfather and grandmother, not to take revenge,” Herman said.

An artistic carving is also found on a shield that in the past was used for tribal war, with a length reaching up to two meters. On the face of the shield, the various carved images carry a specific meaning. Among them is an image of a nose decorated with accessories resembling a crescent moon, which reflects personal grandeur against the opponents.

Inheritance

When starting a piece carving, Herman will recite a solemn prayer. He summons the ancestral spirits and recollects the good times he had with his late grandfather, who taught him to carve. “After that, I will feel full of enthusiasm for work. I gain a strong desire. That is a sign that tete [grandfather] is here," he said.

He said the presence of ancestral spirits would be signified by many things, such as the reciprocal sounds of lizards as he was beginning to carve. The signs were seen as an incentive to accomplish the carving well.

Thanks to him, Sawaerma district is known as one of the Asmat's homes to carving masters.

Herman now passes his knowledge and expertise of carving to youths and children in the village. Thanks to him, Sawaerma district is known as one of the Asmat's homes to carving masters.

Some of his carvings can be seen at the Amore Christian Church. The church looks artistically lively due to the adorning Asmat carvings by local residents.

Herman received the Bintang Budaya Parama Dharma award from then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2011 for his dedication in the field of culture. He was bestowed the honor along with the late legendary national painter Basoeki Abdullah, the late writer Abdullah Idrus and singer Titiek Puspa.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Herman Omordow

As tribal animosity has now faded in Asmat, Herman dedicates his carvings to preserving contemporary human values.

“This is our love for our tete, nene [grandmothers], fathers, mothers who have died. I hope the good values will continue to exist, like the cuscus tail motif, which means a close relationship,” he said.

Herman Omordow

Born:Asmat, 1960

Award:Bintang Budaya Parama Dharma, 2011

(This article was translated by Musthofid).