The territory of contemporary Borneo is divided between three nations; the East Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah, the Sultanate of Brunei, and the Indonesian Republic which holds the lion's share of the island within the boundaries of Kalimantan. This island is crisscrossed by myriad rivers and vast expanses of primeval tropical forests. The term 'Dayak' is a collective appellation used to describe a wide range of Borneo's indigenous or ‘upstream’ peoples. Distinct from this group were the Islamic inhabitants of former coastal sultanates such as Sambas, Kutai, and Banjarmasin. Among the Dayaks are the last surviving handful of the Penan people, one of only three truly nomadic hunter-gatherer groups left on the planet. The Penan are now reduced to a small group of survivors, as distinct from the Iban, whose current population is over a million.

There are at least seventy-four known language groups on the island of Borneo, which are spoken in numerable dialects. Many Dayak groups share cultural similarities, but each has their own distinct language, social customs, and material culture. The legacy of oral traditions handed down through elaborate creation myths, heroic legends, and mythic songs define each group's local identity and inspire their artistic expressions. The masterworks presented below provide a broad and diverse representation of traditional Dayak artwork, ranging from the creations of the Iban and Ibanic peoples to the Punan Baa', Kenyah, Kayan, Modang, Bahau, Bahau Saa,' and the Ngaju and Ot Danum peoples of central and Southern Kalimantan.

Once noted as fierce headhunters, the accouterments of Dayak warriors are highly accomplished yet pragmatic works of art, most notably their combat shields. Dayak battle swords (mandau, parang ilang) vie for supremacy in their workmanship and blade quality with some of the finest weapons ever created in the archipelago. Forged from local iron at high temperatures and repeatedly dipped in cold running water to temper their hardness, the Ngaju poetically refer to their swords as 'Suluh Ambun Panyulak Andau,' which translates as “a torch of the dew announcing the new day."

In the feminine realms of artistic production, Dayak groups like the Ngaju and Ot Danum are held in high esteem for their intricate designs on split fiber mats. Women of the Maloh, Kenyah, and various Kayanic peoples excelled in beadwork. Iban women weavers fashioned exquisite ikats (pua kombu) and supplementary weft textiles (pua sungkit). To become a master weaver among the Iban, a woman had to attain a prerequisite level of expertise and receive permission from the spirit world through dream quests in order to transmit the most potent designs to cloth. Ceremonial textiles were displayed in a variety of ways to invoke blessings from the ancestors and the gods, to protect warriors, and to exhort menfolk to great feats in combat.  To this day, “Women’s warfare” (kayu induh) remains the denomination for the ceremony where threads are dyed and female prowess and determination are celebrated. The weaving arts are a powerful complement to the martial skills of the most vaunted Dayak warriors.