Bikpela pait istap yet long Bougainvil. Helekopt kisim PNG sikereti fos 190 long pait nadpait wantim BRA. Na EMTV man kisim camera igo wantim long helekopta na kisim piksa insait long pait. (There is still a war going on in Bougainville. The helicopter is taking the PNG security force 190 to fight, against the BRA. And, the EMTV cameraman is going with them to get photos of the action as it happens.) 1995

This painting responds to the Papua New Guinean defence forces’ use of military helicopters, supplied by the Australian government, against the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA). The decade-long civil war (1988–98) in the now-autonomous region of Bougainville, in far-eastern Papua New Guinea, was ignited by the environmental damage and unequal distribution of wealth caused by the majority foreign-owned Panguna copper and gold mine (operated by British–Australian company Rio Tinto). The war claimed the lives of thousands of Bougainville landowners and Papua New Guinean soldiers. Siune’s painting emphaises the disparity between the two forces and the need for independent documentation of conditions on the ground. Siune, in the guise of the EMTV News camera, depicts the BRA in villagers’ clothes – barefoot and largely unarmed – while their better-equipped ‘redskin’ opponents attack in force. (‘Redskin’ is the name given to other Papua New Guineans by those living in Bougainville.)