"In A Girl Rings her Boyfriend, a woman who wears traditional dress, including a fiber apron and feather headdress, uses a payphone to talk with her boyfriend. Closer examination reveals her polished nails and a bag that looks lika a striped bilum but is worn like a Western-style handbag, signs of her boldness that are just as obvious as placing a telephone call to a man. The displayed posture in which she sits, often used to depict female ancestors as images of fecundity and prosperity, seems incongrous, perhaps underscoring Towa's perception of the inappropriateness of her behavior." [The artist Oscar Towa is from Papua New Guinea.]

(D'Alleva)