Isawdi of Sidonejo

It was in Sidonejo that the grand, old majestic mango tree stood where the rare—almost mythological— white bird-of-paradise lived. In this idyllically located village, perched deep in the mountain cloudforests, sprung an extraordinary and sophisticated painting tradition. Having developed sometime after the beating of the first barkcloth by the first female Ancestor, Suja, barkcloth paintings by her descendants—Suja’s daughters—flourished. The efflorescence of barkcloth painting as the Ömie’s primary artform and medium was intrinsically informed by the Creation story’s narrative of instructions, as played out by their first Ancestors, Mina and Suja. Barkcloth is an essential textile, having both practical and ceremonial uses. It is worn by women as skirts (nioge); by men as elongated loincloths (givai); used for both adult and children’s blankets (nioge), as ‘bride-price’ gifts in marriage ceremonial exchange; and for wrapping the deceased. With fern designs tattooed on their cheeks, the women of the Dahorurajé—the ‘People of the Mountain’10—engaged in an astonishing artistic movement deeply versed in abstract symbolism and ancestral aesthetics based on the natural world, Ömie cosmology, culture and history. Here, in the village of Sidonejo, which was completely unknown to and untouched by the outside world, circa 1933, Isawdi (Fate Savari) was born.

Isawdi’s parents both belonged to the Dahorurajé clan of Sidonejo. Her mother was Majaho, and she was the illegitimate daughter of the legendary warrior, Dahorurajé clan Duvahe (male chief), Lokirro11. This is one of the essential keys to understanding how she came to be one of the most important painters of her generation. Being the illegitimate daughter of the clan leader, Lokirro, meant that from birth she was left in the care of her mother Majaho. Without the direct presence of Isawdi’s father, Majaho was dependent on the help of her mother and eldest daughter to help raise Isawdi. So Isawdi was brought up in an incredibly strong circle of women, consisting of her mother, grandmother (named Jario), and sister (named Guo’ahörumö), who were all exceptionally skilled barkcloth painters. She would however, on occasion, spend time with her father, the clan Chief, and she learnt the Creation story and all Dahorurajé clan stories and histories from him.

At this time, the Ujawé12 initiation tattooing and piercing rituals and the Sumanai funerary rites were still partly practiced in Sidonejo (however, there is no record remaining of to what degree). Many of Isawdi’s clan were tattooed and initiated in accordance with traditional Ömie customs, including Isawdi herself13. The Dahorurajé clan were intensely wary of outsiders such as Christian missionaries and linguists14. They defended their territory and were able to stop them from ever visiting or establishing a church in Sidonejo. With the great fortune of being located deep in the remote mountains, Sidonejo remained a refuge of Ömie culture for far longer than outlying, more easily accessible villages, such as the lower altitude mountain villages of Asapa and Budo.

And so here in the village of Sidonejo, between the sacred sites of Mount Obo and Huvaimo and above Uhojo River where Suja created the first barkcloth, among a tight-knit circle of birir’e maganahe (strong women), Isawdi grew up. Her mothers15 taught her all the wisdom of the Ancestors, especially

about Ömie art and culture, and by the time she was a young woman she was already exceptionally knowledgeable about the Ömie creation story and associated barkcloth iconography; a myriad of ancestral clan stories; stories linked to sacred and historic sites; an encyclopaedic array of barkcloth designs passed on directly from the time of the first Ancestors; both Ömie and clan-specific histories; and sin’e sor’e (tattoo designs) of the Ujawé initiation rite. From birth, Isawdi was raised within a culture untouched by the outside world, that had little to no contact with the first explorers (of European descent). Isawdi trained in barkcloth painting to a customary level of attainment in a strong and unbroken ancestral lineage. In her biographical statement from 2014, she explains,

“When I was young, I used to live with my mother at old Sidonejo village near the volcano, Huvaimo. I always stayed with her learning to mix red, yellow and black coloured pigments and I learnt where to find everything I need to make barkcloth in the forest. I learnt everything when I lived at Sidonejo.” 16

Isawdi’s earliest experience of outsiders was during World War II in 1942-1943. She explains that the war was fought at Buna17 and that a plane had flown from the direction of a place called Sigareeta.

Ömie village that protects the sacred Mount Obo (background), home of the © B. King first people Mina and Suja I

Isawdi was around 10 years old and recollects,

“I was in the house with my family at Sidonejo when we first heard a warplane flying over. When we went outside and saw the plane my parents gathered up my family and we ran as quickly as we could towards our new yam garden and hid ourselves in the bush under a tree.” 18

And in her biographical statement from 2014, she recalls her first sighting of a “towa”19 (white person) when she travelled down from the mountains, to the lowland plains,

“We were living in the bush like our Ancestors. When I was a girl, I saw Bamu Tenny start to build the town [Popondetta Agricultural Station] with sago leaf rooves. At that time there was no school and no airport. 20

In 1951, when Isawdi was around 1721 years of age, she witnessed the eruption of the Ömie’s sacred volcano, Huvaimo. Her birthplace, the village of Sidonejo, was completely destroyed and her mother took her to Kinado village in the Gora valley to live. They then moved to Ga’enu, then to Sigareeta, then to Asapa. Isawdi married a man from old Godibehi village and lived with him there for some time before he passed away. Shortly after, she moved back to Savodobehi, the new village close to Mount Obo that was established by the Dahorurarjé clan after Sidonejo’s destruction. Later she remarried Fall Savari of the Evorajé clan, and moved with him to Anahobehi village in the Gora valley. During this time Isawdi was given a Christian name Fate22 Savari. Much of her life was spent raising their seven children and gardening with Fall by his land around Uborida (Jordan River), where she came to know that country and its stories intimately.