Product Review

Kastom: Arts of Vanuatu showcases an impressive array of traditional arts through a program of field collecting occurred on the islands of Ambrym and Malakula. Central to many traditional practices, better known as ‘kastom,’ are masked performances and displays of sculpture including iconic upright slit drums. A selection of these intensely visual works created for ritual events realized in wood, over-modeled with clay, feathers, pig tusks, stone and other surprising mediums such as tree fern are discussed. These arts are remarkably unchanged to those from over a century ago, as kastom is an inseparable part of Ni-Vanuatu culture.