Profile
Michael Mel is a performance artist, teacher, and writer based in Papua New Guinea. Currently a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Expressive Arts and Religious Education Department at the University of Goroka, Mel is an expert in the local arts and oral traditions of Papua New Guinea's diverse cultures. His work, which includes performances like those at the Asia Pacific Triennial in 2003, focuses on cultural identity, education through art, and the preservation of indigenous wisdom.He negotiates exchanges between Papua New Guinea, Australia, Asia and the world at large, and demonstrates the emergence of a new Papuan identity, linking the past with an impetus for change within a difficult political, social and economic context. Michael Mel is one of the few bridges between Papua New Guinea and the world, helping us to understand the complex cultures of the island, their philosophical concepts and cultural practices. Papua New Guinea is a zone of silence. By using Papuan methods of communication to act and speak for his communities and to challenge Western cultural dominance, Michael Mel both continues and develops Melanesian cultural forms and creates spaces of freedom for the new generations.
