Karawari River and Blackwater River Map, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea

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Figure 1: One-leg hook figure (wanleg) from the Korosameri - Blackwater River area.

The Blackwater, Korosameri and Karawari Rivers join to form a south tributary of the middle Sepik River. The language groups living along the rivers and in the rugged country in between have their own distinctive styles. Some villages incorporate Iatmul influences from the Sepik. A typical figure is the one-leg carving.

Wanleg carvings are basically two-dimensional. Small ones are carried in men's bilums as amulets. Larger ones are displayed in the ceremonial Haus Tambarans. Wanleg is Pisin English for any figure of this style. Visually similar styles are seen in the Karawari River area.

Blackwater River Carvings | Karawari River Carvings | Mumeri Village

Note: Place name spellings are variable in the literature (even in this site): Korosameri - Korosemeri - Krosmeri, Karawari - Korewori, Mumeri - Numeri, Kabriman - Kapriman, Kaningara - Kaninggara, Kuvenmas - Kuvemas - Govenmas - Governas.

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Photographs, text and maps copyright © Carolyn Leigh, 1996-2010. All rights reserved.
http://www.art-pacific.com/artifacts/nuguinea/sepikriv/blkwater/rivermap.htm
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Artifacts on this site are collected in the field by my husband, Ron Perry. I take the photographs, do the html, text and maps. More background in Who We Are. Art-Pacific has been on the WWW since 1996. We hope you enjoy our New Guinea tribal art and Indonesian folk art as much as we do. Carolyn Leigh, P.O. Box 85284, Tucson, AZ 85754-5284 USA, Art-Pacific at http://www.art-pacific.com/