BK-WHERE MASKS STILL DANCE-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, 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 people 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. Among the traditions and ceremonies photographed and described in detailed captions and notes are crocodile cults, scarification, bachelor societies, sing-sing celebrations, ritualized costuming and tattooing, rites of passage, spirit houses, and shark calling. Many of the rituals and costumes pictured here have seldom, if ever, been photographed before. "Where Masks Still Dance" is both an important ethnographic record and a stunning visual paean to a vanishing world. Photographer, Chris Rainier. Essay by Meg Taylor. 107 duotone illustrations, map. Hard Cover.