ILMA UGIOBARI & FAMILY: Sacred Ömie Mudcloths and Initiation Rite Paintings
Sacred Ömie Mudcloths and Initiation Rite Paintings
ILMA UGIOBARI & FAMILY: Sacred Ömie Mudcloths and Initiation Rite Paintings
28th January – 21st February, 2026
Presented by Aboriginal & Pacific Art in association with Ömie Artists, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea
Exhibition Opening Event with a Curatorial Talk
3 – 5pm, Saturday 7th February 2026
Exhibiting Artists
Ilma Ugiobari (Ajikum’e)
Onesimus Ugiobari (Ubur’e)
Bibira Ugiobari (Piruko)
Sacred Ömie Mudcloths and Initiation Rite Paintings
Ilma Ugiobari (Ömie; born c.1968) is one of Papua New Guinea’s most esteemed living female artists. She lives and works with her extended family in her village, set in a remote valley in the mountains surrounding the Ömie’s sacred volcano Huvaimo (Mount Lamington). As the eldest born daughter of venerated artist, Sarah Ugiobari, Ilma is now a matriarch in her own right. She is the foremost wisdom holder and practitioner of the ancient Ömie artform of sihoti’e nioge (mud-dyed barkcloth)—a sacred women’s tradition which originates from the first female ancestor, Suja, as detailed in the Ömie Creation Story.
With a refined and compelling clarity of vision, Ilma creates work that combines her deep ancestral lore with an unexpected contemporary sensibility and directness. Her boldly composed and finely executed images are created from nioge (barkcloth)—the inner bark of Paper Mulberry and Fig trees. Using the Ömie’s ancient process of sihoti’e taliobamë’e, she dyes the barkcloth in mineral-rich volcanic mud deposits, and then meticulously cuts, hand-stitches and appliqués her designs using a thread made from river reeds and a fine bone needle made from the wing of a bat. Actualised in distinctive minimal, dazzling geometries of charcoal grey on cream—Ilma’s sihoti’e designs encompass her vast cultural knowledge; sublime cosmological phenomena inseperable from the time of Ömie creation; and observations and ancestral stories of her mountainous rainforest homelands and Uborida (Jordan River). Ilma also paints her nioge with the sin’e soru’e (body designs) of her Sidorajé clan—applying her patterned motifs with beauty and delicacy, reminiscent of intricate filigree lace.
In 2025, Ilma Ugiobari achieved the distinction and honour of her work being acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which is currently on display in the recently reopened and reimaged Arts in Oceania exhibit in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Her work is also held in the collections of the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Meanjin/Brisbane and the Art Gallery of South Australia, Tarndanya/Adelaide.
Alongside Ilma, her brother, Onesimus Ugiobari (Ömie; born c.1974), and his wife Bibira Ugiobari, will exhibit some exciting new nioge (barkcloth) pieces. Onesimus is the leading cultural authority and master artist of the Ujawé initiation rite body designs, with an extraordinary artistic repertoire inherited from his mother, Sarah Ugiobari. We are delighted to present this new suite of exceptional nioge works by Ilma and her talented family.
Ilma Ugiobari (Ajikum’e)
Swe Maja’e nun’e ohu’o ugo une – The eye of the morning Sun (with radiating rays of the Sun and bird’s egg), 2025
#25-009 | 221 x 82 cm sihoti’e taliobamë’e - appliquéd, mud-dyed & hand-beaten nioge (barkcloth) hand-stitched with locally harvested river reed thread using a bat wing bone needle
Ujawé sin’e sor’e, ugo un’e, webo’uhe, vinohu’e, siha’e, ohu’o dahoru’e – Initiation rite body tattoo designs, bird’s egg, tail of the cuscus, design of the navel (bellybutton), fruit of the Sihe tree, and Omie mountains, 2025
#25-003 | 108 x 88 cm
locally sourced natural pigments on nioge (women’s hand beaten barkcloth skirt)
Ilma Ugiobari (Ajikum’e)
Swe Maja’e ohu’o ugo une – The eye of the morning Sun (with radiating rays of the Sun and bird’s egg), 2025
#25-001 | 110.5 x 90 cm sihoti’e taliobamë’e - appliquéd, mud-dyed & hand-beaten nioge (barkcloth) handstitched with locally harvested river reed thread using a bat wing bone needle
Ilma Ugiobari (Ajikum’e)
Jovo uovo’e (Hijomiono’o ahihe) – Deep pool of water in a small creek (Ancestors’ custom mirror), 2025
#25-002 | 131 x 61 cm sihoti’e taliobamë’e - appliquéd, mud-dyed & hand-beaten nioge (barkcloth) handstitched with locally harvested river reed thread using a bat wing bone needle
Ilma Ugiobari (Ajikum’e)
Imo hanö’e – Leaf of the sugarcane, 2025
#25-006 | 129 x 59 cm sihoti’e taliobamë’e - appliquéd, mud-dyed & hand-beaten nioge (barkcloth) handstitched with locally harvested river reed thread using a bat wing bone needle
Ilma Ugiobari (Ajikum’e)
Ujawé sin’e sor’e, ugo un’e, webo’uhe, vinohu’e, siha’e, ohu’o dahoru’e – Initiation rite body tattoo designs, bird’s egg, tail of the cuscus, design of the navel (bellybutton), fruit of the Sihe tree, and Omie mountains, 2025
#25-011 | 142 x 66 cm
locally sourced natural pigments on nioge (women’s hand beaten barkcloth skirt)
Ilma Ugiobari (Ajikum’e)
Hijomiono’o kama voso’e – Spearhooks of our Ancestors, 2025
#25-012 | 107.5 x 65 cm sihoti’e taliobamë’e - appliquéd, mud-dyed & hand-beaten nioge (barkcloth) handstitched with locally harvested river reed thread using a bat wing bone needle
Ilma Ugiobari (Ajikum’e)
Visue nune ohu’o visue vuog’e – Eye and tail of the river fish, 2025
#25-007 | 133 x 48 cm sihoti’e taliobamë’e - appliquéd, mud-dyed & hand-beaten nioge (barkcloth) handstitched with locally harvested river reed thread using a bat wing bone needle
Ilma Ugiobari (Ajikum’e)
Siha’e ohu’o taigu taigu’e – Ancestral design of the navel (bellybutton)/fruit of the Sihe tree, and pattern of a leaf, 2025
#25-004 | 110 x 68.5 cm sihoti’e taliobamë’e - appliquéd, mud-dyed & hand-beaten nioge (barkcloth) handstitched with locally harvested river reed thread using a bat wing bone needle
Ilma Ugiobari (Ajikum’e)
Hatu’e – Breastbone/sternum of the Dwarf Cassowary (Casuarius bennetti) which our ancestors decorated their bodies with during cultural ceremonies, 2025
#25-010 | 113 x 54 cm sihoti’e taliobamë’e - appliquéd, mud-dyed & hand-beaten nioge (barkcloth) handstitched with locally harvested river reed thread using a bat wing bone needle
Ilma Ugiobari (Ajikum’e)
Onesimus Ugiobari (Ubur’e)
Ujawé ori sige ohu’o Ujawé sin’e sor’e – Ancestral layout of initiation rite tattoo designs on the male body (segments above and below the navel; then on the back of the body for the right and left side), 2025
#25-013 | 143 x 76 cm locally sourced natural pigments on nioge (hand beaten barkcloth)
Onesimus Ugiobari (Ubur’e)
Butotu am’e, mokoja’e an’e, ohu’o vinohu’e sor’e – Spider’s house (spiderweb), beak of the red parrot and Ujawé initiation rite design of the navel (bellybutton), 2025
#25-014 | 119 x 84 cm locally sourced natural pigments on nioge (hand beaten barkcloth)
Honé sor’e – Ancestral design of the bamboo, 2025
#25-015 | 82 x 54 cm
sihoti’e taliobamë’e - appliquéd, mud-dyed & hand-beaten nioge (barkcloth) handstitched with locally harvested river reed thread using a bat wing bone needle
Bibira Ugiobari (Piruko)
Ilma Ugiobari (Ajikum’e)
Born: c.1968, Gora valley, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea
Lives and works: Anahobehi village (Gora valley), Oro Province, Papua New Guinea
Language Group: Ömie
Clan: Sidorajé
Other names: Formerly Ilma Savari (Ajikum’e) before her divorce.
Medium: locally sourced natural pigments on hand-beaten nioge (women’s barkcloth skirts); and sihoti’e taliobamë’e [appliquéd, mud-dyed and hand-beaten nioge (barkcloth) hand-stitched with locally harvested river reed thread and a bat wing bone needle]
Ilma Ugiobari (Ajikum’e) is the daughter of venerated elder and pre-eminent Ömie artist Sarah Ugiobari. Sarah—the oldest living Ömie woman—began the crucial task of imparting her store of ancient wisdom to daughter Ilma since she was a young girl. Among other things, Sarah taught Ilma to paint and sew a number of enduring Ömie and Managalasi barkcloth designs. Both mother and daughter began working with Ömie Artists Inc. in 2009.
Ilma’s painted Ömie designs depict traditional Sidorajé clan tattoo markings, while her painted Managalasi designs originate from Koruwo and Kiara villages high on Hydrographer’s Range. Ilma creates works originating from both tribes because her mother Sarah was born Managalasi but later married an Ömie man. Her appliquéd mud-dyed barkcloth designs, in the form of Duvahe (Chiefs’) prestige barkcloths, are derived from both tribes. Along with abstract paintings and appliquéd mud-dyed barkcloth designs, Ilma also paints important stories relating to sacred sites of Gora, such as those relating to Uborida (Jordan River), and her surrounding homelands. She uses a unique (for Ömie) combination of figuration and symbolism to create these compelling images.
In 2025, Ilma Ugiobari achieved the distinction and honour of her work being acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which is currently on display in the recently reopened and reimaged Arts in Oceania exhibit in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Her work is also held in the collections of the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Meanjin/Brisbane and the Art Gallery of South Australia, Tarndanya/Adelaide.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017 Ilma Savari (Ajikum’e): Lore and Mud of Uborida, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia
2016 Ilma Savari (Ajikum’e): Aréro Ajivé (A New Light), Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Ilma Ugiobari & Family: Sacred Ömie Mudcloths and Initiation Rite Paintings, Aboriginal & Pacific Art, Sydney, Australia
2025 The Paintweavers: Ömie Barkcloth Art of Papua New Guinea, cbOne Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
2025 Arts of Oceania, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States of America
2023 Jungle Geometry: New Ömie Paintings from Papua New Guinea, Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia
2022 Unseen Secrets of the Mountain Rainforest: Ömie Women’s Art of Papua New Guinea, Aboriginal Signature—Estrangin Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2021 Spirit in Bark: A Celebration of Bark Art from Across Oceania (group exhibition with Maningrida Arts & Culture and Elcho Island Arts), Koskela, Sydney, Australia
2021 Sydney Oceanic Arts Fair (SOAF), National Art School, Sydney, Australia
2019 Art Paris Art Fair [Ömie artists’ Brenda Kesi (Ariré), Sarah Ugibari, Ilma Savari (Ajikum’e) presented by ArtKelch, (Freiburg, Germany) with John Mawurndjul of Maningrida Arts & Culture, and Malaluba Gumana of Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, Arhem Land, NT, Australia], Paris, France
2019 Niugini - Land of the Unexpected, ArtKelch, Freiburg, Germany
2019 Oceanic Art Society Tribal Art Fair, National Art School, Sydney, Australia
2018 Ömie Revealed, Short Street Gallery, Broome, Australia
2018 Oceanic Art Society Tribal Art Fair, National Art School, Sydney, Australia
2018 From Across the Coral Sea: Ömie Tapa Art from PNG, Pandanus Gallery, Palm Cove, Australia
2018 Oceanic Art Society Tribal Art Fair, National Art School, Sydney, Australia
2018 Ömie Barklcloth Art - Papua New Guinea, Japingka Aboriginal Art, Perth, Australia
2018 Art of the Ömie, JGM Gallery, London, England
2017 Ömie Barkcloth Art of Papua New Guinea, Aboriginal & Pacific Art, Sydney, Australia
2017 PNG: It’s Dynamite (Papua New Guinea Art 1968–2017), Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia
2016 The Sacred Mountain, Illuminated: Ömie Barkcloth Art of Papua New Guinea,
Aboriginal Signature - Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium
2015 Hijominöe Modéjadé (Guided by Ancestors): Ömie Artists 10th Anniversary Exhibition, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia
2015 An Exploration of Bark (in association with Ömie Artists and Maningrida Arts & Culture), Outstation Gallery, Garramilla/Darwin, Australia
2015 Art Karlsruhe 2015 (Ömie Artists presented by ArtKelch), Karslruhe, Germany
2015 Under the Volcano: Art of Ömie from Papua New Guinea, Museum Fünf Kontinente, Munich, Germany
2014 Das soll Kunst sein Vol. 12 (Ömie Artists presented by ArtKelch), Kunstverein, Freiburg, Germany
2014 Ömie Artists: Contemporary Tapa Art from Papua New Guinea, ArtKelch, Freiburg & Stuttgart, Germany
2013 Painted and Woven in Song: Ömie Barkcloths and Bilums, RAFT Artspace, Mparntwe/Alice Springs, Australia
PUBLICATIONS & ARTICLES
Appel, Michaela; Kelch, Robyn; and King, Brennan, Ömie Artists [exhibition catalogue], ArtKelch, Freiburg & Staatliches Museum Für Völkerkunde München, Germany, 2014
Baker, Andrew, PNG, It’s Dynamite [exhibition catalogue], Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia 2017
Child, Charlie; Guerrini-Maraldi, Jennifer, Art of the Ömie [exhibition catalogue],
JGM Gallery, London, UK, 2018
King, Brennan, Hijominöe Modéjadé (Guided by Ancestors): Ömie Artists 10th Anniversary Exhibition [exhibition catalogue], Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Meanjin/ Brisbane, Australia 2015
Aréro Ajivé (A New Light) [exhibition catalogue], Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia 2016
COLLECTIONS
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States of America
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia
Art Gallery of South Australia, Tarndanya/Adelaide
Ross Bonthorne Collection, Sydney, Australia
The Arthur Roe Collection, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
International Private Collections
Onesimus Ugiobari (Ubur’e)
Born: 24th February 1974, Ömie territory, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea
Lives and works: Ömie territory, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea
Language Group: Ömie | Clan: Sidorajé
Medium: locally sourced natural pigments on hand-beaten nioge (barkcloth)
The Ujawé body designs are only held by a very small number of Ömie who have inherited their responsibility to preserve the men’s sacred symbolism from their nioge painting teachers. Each of these artists hold and preserve a precious piece of the Ujawé symbolism puzzle. Gifted from the time of the ancestors, these sin’e sor’e designs form the quintessential identity of Ömie. One of the most miraculous developments in the unravelling story of the survival of the the Ömie’s sacred Ujawé sin’e sor’e (initiation ritual body tattoo designs) is the reemergence of rarely seen designs in the nioge (barkcloth) art of Onesimus Ugiobari (Ubur’e).
Onesimus is the son of venerated elder and pre-eminent Ömie artist Sarah Ugiobari. Sarah—the oldest living Ömie woman—began the crucial task of imparting her store of ancient wisdom to her son, Onesimus, since he was a young man. Among other things, Sarah taught Onesimus to paint the sacred Ujawé initiation rite body designs (sin’e sor’e) , which are the same for both Ömie and Managalasi peoples. Now that Sarah Ugiobari is too old to paint nioge (barkcloth) she has entrusted and permitted her son Onesimus to continue carrying on her important artistic cultural painting work. Onesimus began working with Ömie Artists Inc. as a painter in 2024.
Onesimus’ paints Ömie designs depicting traditional Sidorajé clan tattoo markings, as well as Managalasi designs originating from Koruwo and Kiara villages high on Hydrographer’s Range. At the dawn of time, Managalasi and Ömie Ancestors emerged from the underground cave Vavago as a single people. Over time, these first people migrated across the greater Huvaimo region and into Hydrographer’s Range above Managalasi Plateau. Subsequently this group split into separate tribes. Onesimus creates works originating from both tribes because his mother Sarah was born Managalasi but later married an Ömie man. It was she who brought knowledge of Managalasi culture into Ömie territory.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Ilma Ugiobari & Family: Sacred Ömie Mudcloths and Initiation Rite Paintings, Aboriginal & Pacific Art, Sydney, Australia
Bibira Ugiobari (Piruko)
Born: Unknown, Ömie territory, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea
Lives and works: Ömie territory, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea
Language Group: Ömie | Clan: Sidorajé
Medium: sihoti’e taliobamë’e - appliquéd, mud-dyed and hand-beaten nioge (barkcloth) hand-stitched with locally harvested river reed thread using a bat wing bone needle
Bibira Ugiobari (Piruko) is the wife of Onesimus Ugiobari, daughter-in-law of Sarah Ugiobari, and sister-in-law of Ilma Ugiobari. In Ömie culture, when a woman marries into a new clan, it is customary for her to learn the designs of his clan to create nioge (barkcloth). Bibira is under the tutelage of venerated artist and elder, Sarah Ugiobari, as well as her husband, Onesimus. Now that Sarah Ugiobari is too old to paint nioge (barkcloth) she has entrusted and permitted her daughter-in-law Bibira to continue carrying on her important sihoti’e nioge (muddyed barkcloth) work. Bibira creates ancestral sihoti’e nioge (mud-dyed barkcloth) designs and began working with Ömie Artists Inc. in 2024.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Ilma Ugiobari & Family: Sacred Ömie Mudcloths and Initiation Rite Paintings, Aboriginal & Pacific Art, Sydney, Australia
Image right: Sarah Ugiobari—mother of Ilma Ugiobari, Onesimus Ugiobari and Bibira Ugiobari—holding her sin’e sor’e (body designs) tattooing tools and biriré (natural pigment tattooing ink), 2014
Aboriginal & Pacific Art 1/24 Wellington Street, Waterloo NSW 2017
Australia
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Aboriginal & Pacific Art is an accredited government valuer of Australian Indigenous art and artefacts from all regions of Australia including paintings on canvas and paper, prints, drawings, bark paintings, sculpture, ceramics, textiles and fibre art after 1880; Oceanic art and artefacts of the Pacific region; and is a member of the Art Galleries Association of Australia (AGAA), and the Indigenous Art Code.
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