Agus Ongge

Country/Region: Western New Guinea (view other artists)

Village: Asei, Sentani

Agus Ongge, shown here with his wife Maria (who was born on Biak) and one of their seven children, has been carving and painting since 1982 when the practice of Sentani arts was opened up to non-members of the chiefly (ondofolo) line. He does not come from a carving lineage (which on Asei belongs to the Ohee clan), but both his father, from whom he learned, and grandfather have done art commissions. His grandfather carved the well-known Adam and Eve figures, in traditional style, that flank the altar in Asei’s Protestant church. He is the nephew of Seru Ongge, the noted barkcloth painter who died in 1995.

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