The appeal, innocence and serenity surrounding this peaceful scene of mother and child has been with us on earth for thousands of years.

In this painting, Stephen Kaiwe has created a picture of contradiction as the subjects are from the Kukukuku Tribe which was one of the most feared and war-like group of natives ever to inhabit the Eastern Highlands, Morobe and Gulf provinces of Papua New Guinea.

Contrary to the image of love and tenderness which is represented by this particular painting of a mother and her son, according to tradition, each Kukukuku male had to take a human life before being allowed to take a wife.

Kukukuku comes from "Kokokoko", a tribal name for the cassowary, that large flightless bird from the jungle with strong ostrich-like legs. From these legs the Kukukukus obtain the bones (often mistaken for human bones) which a man is entitled to wear at his waist when he takes a wife, or when his wife becomes pregnant.

PLEASE NOTE: All images have been cropped slightly for display online. Whilst care has been taken to ensure that the images are as close as possible to those of the original paintings, no allowance is made for any varience in monitor contrast or brightness settings or resolution. The actual image sizes are shown seperately under "Prices and Image Sizes".