Phone Tower – August 9, 2014

A Telkomsel phone tower stands in the village of Sauti, District of Sawa Erma, Asmat Regency. Telkomsel is the only Indonesian telecommunications provider in Asmat. Construction takes a long time. 4G has only been available since 2022; about nine years after the first tower was constructed.

This tower runs on a diesel engine and an operator is tasked with turning the phone tower on during intermittent hours. The tower allows Indonesian foreigners and traders to organize trading and logistics within Asmat.

Canoe in the making – July 13, 2015

A dugout canoe is being carved in the village of Pupis, District of Sawa Erma, Asmat Regency. It would take the family around a month from the beginning – finding the suitable ti wood from an almond tree (commonly known as Ketapang, Terminalia catappa) in the forest, bringing the tree back to the village, and digging it out – to finally have the canoe ready. Canoes are central to Asmat life. They are mainly used for transport to the forest or to neighboring villages. Asmat canoes – distinctive in its arrowhead prow – have different types and functionality. Some canoes were necessary for warfare in the past. Now they may be used for rituals and most commonly for daily hunting and gathering.

Man and Canoe – July 10, 2015

A man carries his dugout canoe on the mudbanks of the River Momatsj after a day of hunting and gathering in the village of Jakapis, District of Pulau Tiga, Asmat Regency. Jakapis is one of the northernmost and most secluded villages in Asmat. The village stretches for half a mile. Facilities in Jakapis are minimal. There is a school, but no teacher. There is a Catholic church but rarely visited by any priest. The last time the village received medical attention was in 2019 when a nurse was stationed in the neighboring village of Iroko.

Arrival of the Manimar – July 17, 2015

As part of the Jipae resurrection feast, a manimar mask named Arowoso from the clan Basinarpes advances towards the village of Yeni, District of Joerat, Asmat Regency. After being starved for over one night, the manimar will be fetched by the village men from the opposite side of the river, brought back to the village, and greeted with tears by the villagers as they symbolically meet their ancestors. 

Hamtar in Kapi – July 22, 2015

Villagers toss buah sanap (red fruit) towards the manimar named Hamtar from the Amnes clan during the Jipae resurrection feast in the village of Kapi, District of Pulau Tiga, Asmat Regency. As the manimar arrives in the village, the children will playfully throw the fruits at the manimar. The wearer is protected in the basket-shaped mask.

The manimar in a Jipae feast represents an orphan boy. According to legend, the orphan boy starts stealing food from the village and develops his cunning skills. As he wears the mask, he scares women out so that the women drop the food they gathered in the forest. This trick is then figured out by the men of the village, who then agree with the manimar to keep his secret to the trick and that orphans should not be left alone.

The Return – July 23, 2015

The dat (spirit masks, from front to back) Kur, Bo, Kayir, Jut and Osakat, Pas, and manimar named Hamtar emerge from the forest in the Jipae resurrection feast in the village of Kapi, District of Pulau Tiga, Asmat Regency. They are representations of deceased members of the family or an ancestor. The spirit masks are exchanged between clans in the jeu (Asmat longhouse) for men from each clan to wear.  They will spend the night with the villagers, mostly dancing, before symbolically returning to safan (heaven) the following morning. Once an ancestor is called forth to return among the people, they will never reappear in future Jipae feasts.

Jungle Baptism – July 1, 2016

Fr. Vincent Cole, a Maryknoll priest and the last Roman Catholic American missionary in Papua, is being paraded into the forest by the villagers of Sa-Er, where he carries out baptism for the villager’s children by the River Wasar, District of Sawa Erma, Asmat Regency. Approximately 90 children were baptized during the ceremony.

As Asmat elements are morphed into the Catholic baptism ritual, children will enter the Em Tem – a small hut symbolizing the child's entrance to the world – continued by naming the children with Christian names, with the baptism pool and the sago tree as symbols of prosperity. This baptism process is only seen in Sa-Er with Fr. Cole. When he retired in 2023, the Asmat–Catholic baptism was no longer practiced.

Em Tem – July 1, 2016

Paustina Fetomor (right) takes charge of the Em Tem, a small house built as a symbol of a mother’s womb. Parents bring their children through the Em Tem and then out for baptism in a forest patch by the River Wasar, District of Sawa Erma, Asmat Regency. The baptism merges Asmat culture and Catholicism, as introduced by Fr. Vincent Cole, a Maryknoll priest. The Em Tem symbolizes the child's entrance to the world, later delivered by a woman (symbolized by Fetomor).

The Gaharu Boat – April 29, 2024

People from the villages of Bu and Agani head into the forest to gather gaharu (agarwood, Aquilaria sp.) in a fiberglass boat owned by a Torajan trader by the River Tehne, District of Sawa Erma, Asmat Regency. They typically go into the forest to collect agarwood before midday and return by sundown.

 Tehne Trading Post – April 28, 2024

Ambe, a Torajan trader, hands a piece of paper that writes the valuation of gaharu (agarwood, Aquilaria sp.) gathered by a villager in the Tehne trading post, District of Sawa Erma, Asmat Regency. The trading post is currently being operated by Torajan traders from the island of Sulawesi, who employ villagers from Bu and Agani who build bivouacs in the area. Agarwood is the raw material for perfumes, oils, or carvings, with a global market value estimated at over $30 billion U.S. dollars.

Bola – June 22, 2024

Portrait of Bola in the village of Jakapis, District of Pulau Tiga, Asmat Regency.

Poisa, Yosua Nomari, Julianus Timno, and Pohanka – June 22, 2024

Family portrait of Poisa (far left), the wife of Julianus Timno, and their children, Yosua Nomari (second from the left) and Pomanak in the village of Jakapis, District of Pulau Tiga, Asmat Regency.

Markus in Jakapis – June 22, 2024

Portrait of a woman named Markus in the village of Jakapis, District of Pulau Tiga, Asmat Regency.

Jakapis from Air – June 21, 2024

An aerial view of the village of Jakapis, District of Pulau Tiga, Asmat Regency, South Papua Province. Jakapis is the northernmost and one of the most secluded villages in Asmat. The village stretches for half a mile. Facilities in Jakapis are minimal. There is a school, but no teacher. There is a Catholic church but rarely visited by any priest. The last time the village received medical attention was in 2019 when a nurse was stationed in the neighboring village of Iroko. The people of Jakapis will have to travel five hours south on a 15 horsepower engine to reach the village of Sauti – commonly known as Pos (post) – to receive government funds or medical care.