JOYCELIN LEAHY

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
SP Brewery Award for Illustration

ONLY in Papua New Guinea, would a woman stand in the swamp carrying a baby in a bilum while chatting on the mobile phone.

Papua New Guinea is in transition.

Mobile phones have taken PNG by storm.

Down in the swamps, high in the mountains, out in the bush and along the coast.

No matter what class they are, citizens can communicate with each other using modern technology.

The mobile phone has become ubiquitous in PNG.

Being a country of rugged terrain, restricted transportation, lack of good services combined with a high illiteracy rate, the mobile phone is a heart-warming benefit of modernity that enables Papua New Guineans to communicate with their loved ones.

It is accelerating the transition of an ancient culture.

Transition: Only in PNG. Illustration by Joycelin Leahy (2015)