PAPUA – PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) continues to show its commitment in preserving and introducing the culture of the Kamoro Tribe in Mimika, Central Papua to the national public.
This time, PTFI is presenting Kamoro artists at the 2024 Tanah Papua Noken Festival organized by the Ministry of Culture at Sarinah, Jakarta, December 20-22, 2024.
Fadli Zon, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, said that the Ministry of Culture seeks to promote and develop Noken as a cultural product from what is usually worn to the market by Papuan mothers, into a fashion piece.
Fadli Zon emphasized that to support this, the government is currently working with the Papuan people, cultural communities and the business world to do various things, one of which is organizing the Tanah Papua Noken Festival.
“We have to make Indonesians themselves appreciate our culture, don’t let us not appreciate it then other people appreciate it. So we must socialize, we must inseminate knowledge about our culture, especially to our younger generation,” he said in a statement received by this media, Friday (27/12/2024) evening.
PTFI President Director Tony Wenas explained that the participation of Kamoro Tribe artists is a form of PTFI’s commitment to preserving the arts and culture of indigenous Papuan communities living around the company’s operational areas.
“Our support for the Tanah Papua Noken Festival is a form of commitment to the preservation of Indonesian art and culture, especially from Papua. The presence of Kamoro carving and noken art at this festival is expected to introduce and expand access to the beauty of Papuan cultural arts to the wider community,” he said.
The traditional noken made from natural fiber from Papua has been recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in the category of Urgent Protection Needs since 2012.
Familiarizing the use of noken for daily needs, as shopping bags to complementary fashion accessories can trigger an increase in traditional noken production, thereby raising the status of Noken to the category of Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Chairman of the Maramowe Weaiku Kamorowe Foundation Herman Kiripi said, noken is a woven work of the Kamoro Tribe who live in the southern coastal region of Papua, noken is made from swamp grass, pandanus leaves or waru tree bark which is done manually by weaving by women.
Unlike the raw materials for knitting noken from the mountainous region which is made by knitting or sewing. The availability of raw materials in lowland areas is quite abundant and easy to obtain, the manufacturing process also does not require a long time.
