The story
East Sepik Haus Tambaran Festival in Wewak/Maprik
East Sepik Province, centered on Wewak and the Maprik district, is home to the haus tambaran, an elaborately decorated spirit house with a soaring, often triangular facade covered in carved and painted ancestor and spirit figures, and a festival built around this tradition would showcase Sepik carving and painting alongside the architecture itself.
Along the Sepik River and in inland districts like Maprik, communities built a structure unlike almost anything else in Papua New Guinea: the haus tambaran, a ceremonial men's house whose facade rises in a steep, often triangular gable covered from base to peak in carved posts and painted panels depicting ancestor and spirit figures specific to the clan that built it.