Yokoim Woman Of Kundiman Village

The air is humid, and my cell phone has no signal. I've only just arrived at the village of Kundiman on the banks of the Karawari river, a great distance away from, well, almost anything. Home to the small tribe known as the Yokoim, there are I believe, a dwindling number of their kind. With a diversity of languages unmatched anywhere on Earth, there are a number of tribes that risk loosing their spoken language as the outside world slowly creeps in.

The face paint, like elsewhere in Papua New Guinea, is beautifully done. Is it random, or is it part of an elaborate design? Are these patterns reused? Some of the various questions that float through my mind. All I know is, there is an abundance of artistic talent, be it for face paint or sculptures that lives along the rivers.