OWNER OF THE VOYAGE

Since 1992, Roy Villevoye has frequently visited Papua, the former Dutch New Guinea. Visual artist Jan Dietvorst has joined him regularly; together they produce an oeuvre of films that deal with the influences to which the local people, the Asmat, have been exposed since their first contact with Western outsiders in the 1950s. In 2000, two of Villevoye’s long-time Asmat friends made a journey to the Netherlands: the brothers Rufus Satí and Rodan Omomá. A year later their cousin and trusted friend Pupís is interviewed about the two brothers’ adventures. The split-screen projection in ’Owner of the Voyage’ shows their journey simultaneously with the commentary on their travels. In the interview Pupís reconstructs the brothers’ experiences from his own unique perspective; without being asked, he incorporates his own personal agenda within his report.