Where masks still dance

by Chris Rainier

New Guinea is home to more than one thousand aboriginal tribes - each with its own unique language, customs, and folklore that have changed very little in forty thousand years. In eight trips over the last ten years, photographer Chris Rainier has traveled to the island - to both Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya - to document the lives and rituals of these fascinating peoples in what is the most complete visual study ever made. The result is Where Masks Still Dance - a stunning photographic expedition that captures the distinctive cultures of these indigenous peoples in page after page of hauntingly beautiful black-and-white images. In short essays throughout the book, Rainier recounts the adventures behind the photographs - from trekking through leech-infested jungles to witnessing a ritualistic tribal war "rehearsal" - and notes the often disastrous influence of modern technology and values on the way of life of these simple, natural peoples.