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Colours:
The Asmat artist uses red, white and black colouring, which have a magic value besides decorative purposes.
White is obtained along the coast from the powder of burnt clamshell, while kaolin clay is used in the inner part of the region. It is coinsidered a protective colour, which gives strenght and keeps danger at bay. It is applied to the canoes and statues of human figures, as a second skin.
Red or yellow clay can be found along the rivers in the upstream regions. It is the colour of beauty and power and it is used to highlight the designs on the canoes for a swifter navigation; it can be also used as bodypaint and applied around the eyes, to resemble the small feathers of an angry Black Cockatoo, so as to fill the enemy with terror. Body scarifications are usually emphasized with red clay.
Black is basically coal and soot is used to design human body hair.
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