Dear friends and colleagues
I think I have surprised myself doing thirty of these letters week after week. Granted three have arrived late in your letter box, including XXIX which comes at the same time as this, but otherwise I have maintained the discipline.
But I am flying to London next Sunday and staying there for three or four weeks and as I will probably not have anything tropical to report on you must expect a short break in transmission. If however there is any question you would like me to try and answer please feel free to send it in. You know my email address!
As I mentioned a couple of weeks back I want to talk about my walking stick. It is no ordinary walking stick. I have hardly ever used it. The only stick I ever carry is one to hack down weeds. This is not the sort of stick that is good for that.
I bought it at a shop in KL that specialises in tribal art. (But I think the shop makes its money by selling cheesy Chinese style paintings. The market for good tribal art is small here.) My stick is made from animal bone. Ten sections of bone stuck together. I presume there is a rod of metal in the middle to give it added strength. You have to look really hard to see the joints: it tapers very, very gently. In short it is put together expertly. But what makes it special is that it is carved all over.
It is Batak – a tribe or culture settled around lake Toba in Sumatra. They have a famous carving tradition and I guess that tradition is just petering out in our own lifetimes. When I was dilly-dallying about whether to buy it or not, the shop owner said the carver was very old and not well. I am glad I took the hint: the next time I went and asked I was told he has passed away. There were two sticks by him left but neither as rich as this. He hasn’t passed on the skill – or presumably the necessary patience. No-one will be making these anymore.
OK, what is the status of this object? I like it and enjoy having it as much as any “Western style” work of art I have. Is it art or craft?
When I first bought a piece of tribal art many years ago, (It was a shop in London long since closed down) it was explained to me there are three categories: tribal art – made by tribal people for their own ceremonies, tourist art – made by the same craftsmen but for sale to tourists and, thirdly, airport art – art knocked off to look exotic for sale to tourists who have zero understanding. Tourist art can be fine, my stick is in that category though the little man looks wrong to me. But even then I still like it: it brings to mind there was a man who carved this, an old man whittling at animal bones all day long.
Now, I have to admit I have little idea what all the symbols mean and one day I should do some proper research. Will that change the way I see it? Will it determine whether it is art or craft; tribal, tourist or airport?
I doubt he saw it as art. I don’t even know if there is a word for art in the Batak language. If it was an older piece and had some magical purpose, perhaps we would be less reticent about calling it “art”. The truth is that there is I suspect rarely any distinction between art and craft in a tribal society. That makes it rather difficult to be sure what it becomes when we bring it into our society.
Have a good Tuesday
Tony