Karen Huntt Photography | Documentary | Travel | Fine Art | Editorial

Coral Sea Expedition

After several years of hard work fundraising, researching, and planning, I traveled to the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea to document existing traditions along coastal areas. The goal was to witness and record cultural changes 80 years after two American artists - Caroline Mytinger and Margaret Warner - had journeyed there to paint and write about cultures in transition. In the 1920s, these areas were undergoing rapid change due to plantation development, missionary efforts and related western expansion.

Partnering with another photographer, we found descendants of Caroline's portrait subjects, and documented a rekindling of formerly outlawed cultural practices (thankfully, not headhunting). The old ways, much of them forgotten, are being studied anew and revitalized by locals. They are often synthesized with current religious beliefs. In one village we found an old-style raiding canoe that had been built using some plastic in place of abalone shell. The day we visited, the canoe was being launched in celebration of a Methodist holy day.

Our two-month long trip was an officially sanctioned flag expedition of The Explorers Club, the Society of Woman Geographers, and Wings WorldQuest.

Ancient traditions of skull worship are preserved in remote areas of the Coral Sea, like this reliquary on Skull Island in the Solomon Islands.

KAREN HUNTT
Documentary Photography

Karen Huntt Photography | Documentary | Travel | Fine Art | Editorial

Documentary,travel & fine art photographer, Explorers Club Fellow, & former National Geographic photo editor shooting world culture from a personal perspective.

KAREN HUNTT Documentary Photography

Karen Huntt Photography | Documentary | Travel | Fine Art | Editorial

Documentary,travel & fine art photographer, Explorers Club Fellow, & former National Geographic photo editor shooting world culture from a personal perspective.

KAREN HUNTT
Documentary Photography