Art and vegetables: ‘Ground buyers’ and the contemporary art trade in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Abstract The contemporary art of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been described so far as a political form of expression revealing the postcolonial aspirations of the population since the country’s independence from Australia in 1975. However, observers, critics and anthropologists have until now neglected to take into consideration the economic aspects of art production in the country. Drawing on Karl Marx and Pierre Bourdieu’s analysis of artworks as commodities and as a social field, this article describes a little-known aspect of the PNG art market. It analyses the role of cash in art production and its progression. Copied from the vegetable trade, the Papua New Guinean art market has given birth to the figure of the ‘ground buyer’. They are local intermediates who operate as usurers and have become the main interlocutors to western buyers. In comparing cash crop and art, the article underlines the versatility of PNG players in the art world and allows comparison between art production and other economic activities in urban Melanesia.