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Simon Gende / Kuman people, Chimbu Province / Papua New Guinea b.1969 / No 1 Kiap blong Australia Mr Jim Taylor I brukim bush long Highlands Papua Niugini (The first Australian Officer, Mr Jim Taylor, in an exploratory mission in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea) 1999 / Synthetic polymer paint on canvas / 78.5 x 90.5cm / Purchased 1999. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Grant / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Simon Gende
Simon GendeNo 1 Kiap blong Australia Mr Jim Taylor I brukim bush long Highlands Papua Niugini (The first Australian Officer, Mr Jim Taylor, in an exploratory mission in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea) 1999
On Display: QAG, Gallery 6
Simon Gende is known for paintings that comment on contemporary politics and society. No 1 Kiap blong Australia Mr Jim Taylor I brukim bush long Highlands Papua Niugini provides historical commentary on the period of Australian trusteeship and is an example of how Papua New Guineans are revisiting and rewriting their own history.
The painting’s subject, Jim Taylor, was the first Australian patrol officer or ‘kiap’ to undertake an exploratory mission in the Papua New Guinea Highlands. Traveling with patrol officer John Black and medical assistant Pat Walsh, as well as a large group of Papua New Guinean police and carriers, Taylor left Mount Hagen in March 1938 on an epic exploring patrol lasting 15 months.
Rendered as silhouettes in Gende’s painting, Taylor and a group of three elaborately dressed carriers take the Australian flag across the mountainous landscape, reminiscent of Neil Armstrong’s planting of the American flag on the moon.
Acutely observed, Gende’s Highland carriers precede the flag and the coming of new ways that the patrols issued in. Some 50 years later Taylor’s daughter, lawyer and Papua New Guinea diplomat, Dame Meg Taylor, retraced her father’s historic journey in the documentary My Father, My Country 1989.
Simon Gende is one of Papua New Guinea’s most respected contemporary painters. Gende lives and works in Port Moresby, Goroka, and his village in the Highlands in Chimbu Province. Gende was taught to paint by his kinsman Mathias Kauage, a senior artist from Chimbu.
While Gende’s work has been influenced by the late Kauage’s style and themes — exemplified by decorative qualities, saturated colours and the depiction of urban life — he developed the use of the silhouette and has extended his subject matter to include the depiction of contemporary events, often gleaned from the local Post Courier newspaper.
Discussion Questions
1. Explain the artist’s use of silhouette. How does the use of the silhouettes influence the message being portrayed?
2. How would you describe the relationship between the Australian government officer and the three Papua New Guinean carriers?
3. How does the painting relate to the performance practices of the Papua New Guinea Highlands area?
Classroom Activities
1. Research Jim Taylor’s exploratory patrols in the Western Highlands Province during the 1930s. How do you think the patrols contributed to this period of change? Discuss the reasons why Simon Gende and Meg Taylor would want to re-examine this period of history.
2. Think about a big event or major change in your family’s history. Are there particular colours or symbols that you associate with your family? Use these to create an illustrated journal entry reflecting upon, and documenting, a major event or change in your family’s history.