Claudio Sieber

En route to East New Britain in remote Papua New Guinea I had been studiously envisioning on how to visualise the cultural significance of Tabu shell money, the official complementary currency in the region. To my very surprise, I’ve encountered much more than just a couple of snail houses on a string. Until today Tabu is deeply anchored in many daily activities and essential substance for any formal or informal gatherings alike. It is the source of social, political, cultural and even spiritual bonding – ergo the vein of people’s life. For one month I have been living among Tolai clans, to be eventually initiated to all local customs. As a result, my multimedia-project reveals intimate, bizarre and droll situations, which I believe the world has never seen before.

*This gallery is part of a multimedia documentary project.