Muman minggil (The Road to Ancestor Land) (2024)

Following the murder of their leader, Arnold Ap in 1984, the trajectory of the Mambesak Group was abruptly cut short. Between 1978 and 1984, the group emerged in Jayapura as a cultural force dedicated to reviving Papuan ancestral knowledge at a time when colonial legacies and rapid modernisation threatened to erode it. Led by Ap and largely comprised of students from across Papua, the collective sought new artistic forms that could carry traditional values into the present, positioning culture not as a relic but as a shared living practice. Gathering scattered memories, archival fragments and testimonies from former members, Muman Minggil aims to reconstruct the spirit of Mambesak’s work at its height.