Varilaku explores traditional practices, better known as 'Kastom', Kastom beliefs in ancestral ghosts, the world of spirit beings, ocean-bound raiding expeditions, and the aesthetics of the self - the use of adornments to express
identity and status from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century.
This book showcases a unique collection of the National Gallery of Australia. During the early 1970s a program of field collecting on the Islands of Ambrym and Malakula resulted in an impressive array of traditional arts. Central
to many traditional practices, better known as 'Kastom', are masked performances and displays of sculpture including iconic upright slit drums.
