The Hampton's Gallery of Arts, Crafts and Artifacts

Bilum - Purchased from a tribe on the Sepik River, Papua New Guinea - Price: $150.00 USD

About 19 inches wide, 30 inches tall. A bilum is a multifunctional knotted or woven bag, native to Papua Island. Its distinctive usage, which involves being hung from the head, is traditionally used to carry various goods, and also children. In 2012, bilum was listed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists as a cultural heritage of Indonesia. We collected this item on a trip up PNG's Sepik River in 1997.