Nom’e Javavamu Darugé I’jové (We Dance Our Designs to Life)

REDOT FINE ART GALLERY in collaboration with Ömie Artists presents

Nom’e Javavamu Darugé I’jové (We Dance Our Designs to Life) A Collection of Barkcloth Art from the Ömie Artists, Papua New Guinea

04 Oct – 04 Nov 2017

Gallery 1

For a high resolution, downloadable, PDF version of this catalogue, with pricing, please send us an email to info@redotgallery.com Thank you.

c o n t e m p o r a r y

i n d i g e n o u s

a r t

Sahuote Clan Village 2010 Source: © Brennan King, photo courtesy of Ömie Artists Inc.

Introductory Essay The Ömie women artists of Papua New Guinea are thrilled and honoured to present their largest and most comprehensive exhibition of 2017 at Singapore’s prestigious ReDot Fine Art Gallery.

It is fitting on this occasion to dedicate this exhibition to the late Dapeni Jonevari (Mokokari), one of the great master painters of the Ömie’s ujawé initiation tattoo designs, who sadly passed away peacefully in her village home in October 2016. Her works in this exhibition represent some of the very last and most significant pieces she produced before her untimely passing. Dapeni’s immense contribution as a pioneering senior artist of the Ömie Artists cooperative from 2004 onwards, played a key role towards the flourishing of this extraordinary barkcloth art movement that we see today.

Professor Nicholas Thomas, Director of Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, UK wrote in 2012, “There is a great world art tradition that is still scarcely known to people beyond the region that produced it. Right across the Pacific, from New Guinea to Hawai’i, Islanders have painted barkcloth, occasionally figuratively, more commonly out of a dazzling, irregular, organic geometry. Though the art has been created for centuries, very likely for millennia, it is very much alive today. Its most brilliant living exponents are the women of Ömie, of Oro Province in Papua New Guinea. Their practice is at once based deeply in ancestral aesthetics, varied in its stimuli, and relentlessly experimental.”

This exhibition endeavours to capture something of the Ömie’s “relentless experimentation” that Thomas speaks of, predominantly through the paintings of senior artists but also through emerging talents such as Diona Jonevari, who continues the great legacy of her mother-in-law, Dapeni Jonevari.

Barkcloth serves as the medium onto which culturally loaded symbols are painted in freehand, stenciled or sewn. The predominantly abstract symbolism found in barkcloth art arose from people closely in tune to the natural environment in which they lived. It has immense spiritual significance to their cultures, maintaining and communicating the deep connections they have to their origins, ancestors, and sense of place within their homelands and, in essence, the world. Creating barkcloth is a particularly strong Right Page: Savodobehi Village Source: © Brennan King, photo courtesy of Ömie Artists Inc.

tradition for both Melanesian and Polynesian societies across Oceania. Sadly, over the past century it has become increasingly rare and in many regions, extinct. Yet, miraculously, it has survived against incredible odds among the Ömie who live in the interior mountains of Oro Province.

Barkcloth is, as it always has been, the Ömie’s most important art form. It served and still serves important purposes in marriage, funereal and initiation ceremonies as well as being an integral part of their everyday life. Ömie barkcloths are still worn today during customary ceremonies, which usually involve feasting and spectacular performances of singing, dancing and kundu-drumming. In fact, barkcloth painting is so important to the Ömie that one of the key events in their Creation story details how the first woman and mother Suja, after her first menstruation, beat the first barkcloth at Uhojo River beside her home on the sacred Mount Obo.

Around 1951 there was an internally initiated move to preserve barkcloth painting traditions among the Ömie tribe. This occurred after the Ömie’s sacred volcano Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) erupted, not long after the first Christian missionaries came to Ömie territory. The missionaries banned the ancient ujawé initiation rite that involved tattooing sor’e (clan insignia) onto the skin. They also gathered customary cultural objects including barkcloth and destroyed them on bonfires in the mission villages of Asapa and Gora. The Dahorurajé clan Chiefs Warrimou and Nogi believed the eruption was a strong message from their Ancestors who reside in the invisible Spirit village on Huvaimo—a warning the Ancestors were angry that the old ways were being lost and that the Ömie must turn away from the outsiders and hold onto their own, true culture.

The Chiefs, in an attempt to appease their Ancestors, responded by spreading word throughout the tribe, encouraging women to continue creating barkcloth, and to begin painting the ujawé tattoos onto barkcloth. And so, triumphantly, the Ömie managed to preserve their ancient and sacred barkcloth art form, as well as the ujawé symbolism.

Elders Dapeni Jonevari and Sarah Ugibari, whose artworks are featured in this exhibition, are two of the leading painters of the ancient ujawé iconography.

The iconography of the Ömie springs from the very heart of the world they were born into—it is an irrepressible visual language encapsulating their distinct cultural identity as Ömie. By continuing the practice of barkcloth art, the vital balance between the Ömie and their Ancestors is maintained. This ensures the integral, harmonious relationship the people have with their homelands is preserved—for they are the traditional custodians, rightful owners and guardians of their cherished land. The Ömie are attuned to supernatural forces present within the land, they are the keepers of its sacred knowledge and these age-old relationships are manifested within their barkcloth art.

Of great cultural integrity, the barkcloth art of the Ömie stands as testament to the strength and endurance of their culture, where, through their visually arresting and highly sophisticated designs, we see in full-strength the continuity and ingenuity of their ancient yet living artistic traditions. The artworks in this exhibition were created predominantly by senior artists but also by younger artists—each with their own marvelous idiosyncrasies. Exquisitely detailed, cryptic images of seemingly impossible diversity burst forth from the gallery walls. Designs such as the energetic zig-zagging Ömie mountains, hornbill beaks, frog hip-bones, jungle vines and spider webs invite viewers into a strange new world, to be transported and get lost amongst their wild

mysteries and raw, palpable Ancestral powers. Ă–mie Artists kindly thank the Director of ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Giorgio Pilla, for his phenomenal support and dedication towards the realisation of this exhibition.

Brennan King Manager, Ă–mie Artists Inc.

Dapeni JONEVARI (MOKOKARI) Birth Date Deceased Place of Birth

Language Skin/Clan

circa 1949 22 Oct 2016 Budo village, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea Ömie Ematé

Dapeni was one of the pioneering senior master painters of Ömie Artists and began painting since the establishment of the cooperative in 2004. Her mother was Yéwo and her father was John Koré, both Sahuoté clanspeople from Budo village. She was born two years before the eruption of Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) and grew up at Budo and Jiapa villages. As a young girl Dapeni was taught to paint traditional Ömie barkcloth designs by her aunts at Budo Village. Primarily, Dapeni painted soru’e (tattoo designs) she saw on her grandfather’s body and was held in high regard as the pre-eminent authority of these sacred body designs. As a duvahe (Chief) she also painted uehorëro (her own wisdom), confidently reimagining her inherited repertoire of customary Ömie designs through sophisticated, progressive compositions. Since 2002, Dapeni has been teaching her daughter-in-law Diona Jonevari to paint traditional Ömie barkcloth designs.

Collections National Gallery of Australia (NGA), Canberra, ACT, Australia.

National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK. Museum Fünf Kontinente, Munich, Germany Sammlung Alison & Peter W. Klein, Eberdingen-Nussdorf, Germany Michelle Picker Collection, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Pacific Islands Trade & Invest, Sydney, NSW, Australia Private Collections

Selected Group Exhibitions 2017 PNG, It’s Dynamite, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Stories Are Forever, presented by Vivien Anderson Gallery at Merricks House

Gallery, Mornington Peninsula, VIC, Australia.

2016 Moonlight, Mountains and Pig Tusks: Painted Wisdom of the Ömie Chiefs, Vivien

Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

The Sacred Mountain, Illuminated: Ömie Barkcloth Art of Papua New Guinea,

Aboriginal Signature - Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium.

Parcours des Mondes, Paris (Ömie Artists presented by Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium).

Mionomehi Oriseegé (Ancestral Paths), Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia.

The Barn Project 3: Seeing the Unseen, Harvey Art Projects, Sun Valley, Idaho, USA.

BRUNEAF (Brussels Non-European Art Fair): Omie Artists presented by

Aboriginal Signature - Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium.

Art of the Pacific, National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) International, Melbourne,

VIC, Australia.

2015 Hijominöe Modéjadé (Guided by Ancestors): Ömie Artists 10th Anniversary

Exhibition, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Duvahe Nioge: Barkcloths by the Senior Ömie Artists of Papua New Guinea,

Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

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.

Luminous Mountain, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Ömie Artists: Contemporary Tapa Art from Papua New Guinea, ArtKelch,

Freiburg & Stuttgart, Germany.

New Paintings by Ömie Chiefs and Senior Artists, Aboriginal & Pacific Art,

Sydney, NSW, Australia.

2013 Made in Oceania: Tapa – Art and Social Landscapes, Rautenstrauch-Joest

Museum, Cologne, Germany.

Volcanic Visions: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, USA.

Tapa: Barkcloth Paintings from the Pacific, IKON Gallery, Birmingham, UK.

Painted and Woven in Song: Ömie Barkcloths and Bilums, RAFT Artspace, Alice

Springs, NT, Australia.

Of Spirit and Splendour: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie, ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

2012 Nohi Dahoru’e - Nohi Nioge (Our Mountain - Our Art), The Depot Gallery, Sydney,

NSW, Australia.

Contemporary Ömie Bark Cloth, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Art of the Ömie: Barkcloth Paintings from Papua New Guinea, Harvey Art

Projects, Sun Valley ID, USA.

Second Skins: Painted Barkcloth from New Guinea and Central Africa, Fowler

Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Nohi niogero aru’aho ma’ene munomehi jajuho (Our barkcloth holds the spirit of

our culture), Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Barkcloth Paintings by Ömie Chiefs and Elders, William Mora Galleries,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2011 No si hijomiono’o jabesi sor’e jajivo (We are painting the designs of our Ancestors), ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

2010 Rweromo garé niogehu mamabahe ajivé (Come and see the beauty and

brightness of our barkcloths), Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

17th Biennale of Sydney: The Beauty of Distance - Songs of Survival in a

Precarious Age, Museum of Contemporary Art, Syndey, NSW, Australia.

The Art of Ömie, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Miami International Art Fair / Art Palm Beach, USA, presented by Osborne

Samuel, London, UK.

Wisdom of the Mountain: Art of the Ömie, National Gallery of Victoria (NGV)

International, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2009 Ömie: Barkcloths from New Guinea, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

2007 In the Shadow of a Volcano: The Barkcloth Art of the Ömie, Holmes à Court

Gallery, Perth, WA, Australia.

2006 Ömie: The Barkcloth Art of Ömie, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Dapeni JONEVARI (MOKOKARI) Ujawé Soru’e (Asimano’e, Taigu Taigu’e, Odunaigö’e, Vinohu’e Ohu’o Dahoru’e) - Men’s Ceremonial Initiation Tattoos (Heads Of Men, Pattern Of A Leaf, Jungle Vines, Siha’e Fruit Design Of The Bellybutton And Ömie Mountains) Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 135 x 72cm 15-078

The border and the central band that runs through the nioge are orriseegé (paths/ pathways) and provide a compositional framework for the designs.

Dapeni has painted Ujawé sor’e, men’s initiation rite tattoo designs. Dapeni’s father told her how her grandfather lived in a guai, the underground site where he underwent his initiation tattooing.

The streams of zig-zags are taigu taigu’e and would often be tattooed on the upper arms of boys for their initiation into manhood. The design is very old and some Ömie people believe that it may have originated from a pattern seen on a leaf.

The curly ends are odunaigö’e, a climbing jungle vine with thorns and tendrils. The small diamond designs represent the fruit of the sihe tree. Sihe is a yellow fruit found in the rainforest and often eaten by cassowaries. In the time of the Ancestors during times of tribal warfare, the Ömie male warriors struggled to find food while they were in the bush defending their borders in the forest far from their villages. They survived by chewing the sihe fruit, swallowing the juice and then they would spit out the pulp.

The siha’e design is sometimes also called vinohu’e, the men’s tattoo design of the bellybutton. The diamond shape was tattooed around men’s navals during the Ujawé initiation rite.

The circular designs are asimano’e, the heads of living men complete with ears and eyes. Dapeni explains how this design is uehëro (her own wisdom) and came to her in a dream.

Dapeni JONEVARI (MOKOKARI) Ujawé Soru’e (Asimano’e, Taigu Taigu’e, Odunaigö’e Ohu’o Vinohu’e/Siha’e) - Men’s Ceremonial Initiation Tattoos (Heads Of Men, Pattern Of A Leaf, Jungle Vines And Siha’e Fruit Design Of The Bellybutton) Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 137 x 66cm 15-079

The border and the central band that runs through the nioge are orriseegé (paths/ pathways) and provide a compositional framework for the designs.

Dapeni has painted Ujawé sor’e, men’s initiation rite tattoo designs. Dapeni’s father told her how her grandfather lived in a guai, the underground site where he underwent his initiation tattooing.

The streams of zig-zags are taigu taigu’e and would often be tattooed on the upper arms of boys for their initiation into manhood. The design is very old and some Ömie people believe that it may have originated from a pattern seen on a leaf.

The curly ends are odunaigö’e, a climbing jungle vine with thorns and tendrils. The small diamond designs represent the fruit of the sihe tree. Sihe is a yellow fruit found in the rainforest and often eaten by cassowaries. In the time of the Ancestors during times of tribal warfare, the Ömie male warriors struggled to find food while they were in the bush defending their borders in the forest far from their villages. They survived by chewing the sihe fruit, swallowing the juice and then they would spit out the pulp.

The siha’e design is sometimes also called vinohu’e, the men’s tattoo design of the bellybutton. The diamond shape was tattooed around men’s navals during the Ujawé initiation rite.

The circular designs are asimano’e, the heads of living men complete with ears and eyes. Dapeni explains how this design is uehëro (her own wisdom) and came to her in a dream.

Dapeni JONEVARI (MOKOKARI) Ujawé Soru’e [Asimano’e (Taigu Taigu’e, Odunaigö’e, Vinohu’e) Ohu’o Dahoru’e] - Men’s Ceremonial Initiation Tattoos [Heads Of Men (With Pattern Of A Leaf, Jungle Vines, Siha’e Fruit Design Of The Bellybutton) And Ömie Mountains] Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 135.5 x 59.5cm 15-007

The border and the central band that runs through the nioge are orriseegé (paths/ pathways) and provide a compositional framework for the designs.

The solid black sawtooth design (small triangles) represent Dahoru’e, the design of the Ömie mountains. The main designs are Ujawé soru’e (initiation tattoos). Mens’ entire bodies would be tattooed while only the cheeks of women were tattooed. Dapeni’s father told her how her grandfather lived in a guai where he underwent his initiation tattooing.

The streams of zig-zagging lines and their curling offshoots are also traditional soru’e.

The streams of zig-zags are taigu taigu’e and would often be tattooed on the upper arms of boys for their initiation into manhood. The design is very old and some Ömie people believe that it may have originated from a pattern seen on a leaf.

The curly ends are odunaigö’e, a climbing jungle vine with thorns and tendrils. The small diamond designs represent the fruit of the sihe tree. Sihe is a yellow fruit found in the rainforest and often eaten by cassowaries. In the time of the Ancestors during times of tribal warfare, the Ömie male warriors struggled to find food while they were in the bush defending their borders in the forest far from their villages. They survived by chewing the sihe fruit, swallowing the juice and then they would spit out the pulp. The siha’e design is sometimes also called vinohu’e, the men’s tattoo design of the bellybutton. The diamond shape was tattooed around men’s navals during the Ujawé initiation rite.

The circular designs are asimano’e, the heads of men complete with ears and eyes.

Dapeni explains how this design is uehëro (her own wisdom) and came to her in a dream.

Dapeni JONEVARI (MOKOKARI) Mahudan’e Ohu’o Dahoru’e - Pig Tusks (Customary Ömie Wealth) And Ömie Mountains Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 154 x 57.5cm 16-016

The border and the central band that runs through the Nioge are orriseegé (paths/ pathways) and provide a compositional framework for the designs.

The black sawtooth design that runs around the borders of the work are dahoru’e, the design of the Ömie mountains.

The spots within the orriseegé and above the dahoru’e are a design called sabu ahe representing the spots which can be seen on the sides of a wood-boring grub. This grub is sacred to Ömie people as it plays an important part within the creation story of how Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) came to be volcanic. It is a traditional sor’e (tattoo design) which was most commonly tattooed running in one line under both eyes.

The main design is mahudan’e, pig’s tusks, consisting of two tusks bound together in opposite directions with natural bush fibres and necklace strings threaded with suhine, plant seeds. Pig’s tusks are the traditional form of wealth for the Ömie and are often used for brideprice ceremonies. During dance ceremonies and rituals, pig tusk necklaces are worn by men and sometimes, although very rarely, by high-ranking women elders. The pig tusks have mouthpieces which male dancers bite, displaying the object to make themselves look like fierce warriors. In the time of the ancestors when tribal conflicts, village raids and retribution were an everyday part of life, no doubt this fierce appearance would have served a very important purpose.

Dapeni JONEVARI (MOKOKARI) Ujawé Soru’e (Asimano’e, Taigu Taigu’e, Odunaigö’e Ohu’o Vinohu’e) Ohu’o Dahoru’e Men’s Ceremonial Initiation Tattoos (Heads Of Men, Pattern Of A Leaf, Jungle Vines And Siha’e Fruit Tattoo Design Of The Bellybutton) And Ömie Mountains Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 129 x 54cm 16-017

The border and the central band that runs through the nioge are orriseegé (paths/ pathways) and provide a compositional framework for the designs.

The black sawtooth design that runs around the borders of the work are dahoru’e, the design of the Ömie mountains.

Dapeni has painted Ujawé sor’e, men’s initiation rite tattoo designs. Dapeni’s father told her how her grandfather lived in a guai, the underground site where he underwent his initiation tattooing.

The streams of zig-zags are taigu taigu’e and would often be tattooed on the upper arms of boys for their initiation into manhood. The design is very old and some Ömie people believe that it may have originated from a pattern seen on a leaf.

The curly ends are odunaigö’e, a climbing jungle vine with thorns and tendrils. The small diamond designs represent the fruit of the sihe tree. Sihe is a yellow fruit found in the rainforest and often eaten by cassowaries. In the time of the Ancestors during times of tribal warfare, the Ömie male warriors struggled to find food while they were in the bush defending their borders in the forest far from their villages. They survived by chewing the sihe fruit, swallowing the juice and then they would spit out the pulp. The siha’e design is sometimes also called vinohu’e, the men’s tattoo design of the bellybutton. The diamond shape was tattooed around men’s navals during the Ujawé initiation rite.

The circular designs are asimano’e, the heads of living men complete with ears and eyes.

Dapeni explains how this design is uehëro (her own wisdom) and came to her in a dream.

Dapeni JONEVARI (MOKOKARI) Butotu’e Ohu’o Dahoru’e (Spiderweb And Ömie Mountains) Appliquéd Mud-Dyed Nioge (Barkcloth) 90 x 68.5cm 16-021

Dapeni has painted butote’e, the design of the spiderweb. Spiders and spiderwebs figure strongly in Ömie lore. While symbolism based upon spiders and spiderwebs is no longer commonly seen in Ömie barkcloth art [1], it does exist [2].

Dapeni provides us with her personal account of how she was inspired to paint this particular design: “The eruption of Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) in 1951 destroyed most of the villages and forests. Fire and ash came out of the top of that big mountain and covered everything. All of the trees were burnt black, but the trunks remained. When I was just a small girl my parents took me to the old villages and I remember there was no life, no anything - except for the spiderwebs that stretched out between the black, charred trees. It was a very good sign that life was slowly returning and that our forests would slowly grow back and we were very happy.” [3] The border around the nioge is known as orriseegé or ‘a pathway’, providing a compositional framework for the main design. The triangles around the edges of the orriseegé are dahoru’e, the design of the Ömie mountains.

As at 2017, the only artist still creaing such designs is Brenda Kesi.

Spiderwebs and spider-based barkcloth designs were painted by Ömie artists Mary Naumo, Lila Warrimou, Dapeni Jonevari and an unidentified elder of the Sahuoté clan in the Budo-Gorabuna region of Ömie territory.

[3] Translated by Raphael Bujava, December 2011 [1] [2]

Diona JONEVARI (SUWARARI) Birth Date Place of Birth

Language Skin/Clan

1979 Old Godibehi Village, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea Ömie Ematé

Diona Jonevari’s mother was Delma Iarin of Gora village and her father was Abaho Gugonaymi of old Godibehi village (Ematé clan). When Diona married her husband Nathaniel Jonevari in 2002, she began to learn to paint the traditional Ömie designs of his mother Dapeni Jonevari, who was the Chief of Ematé clan women and a highly respected artist.

Under Dapeni’s tutelage, Diona has become a respected artist in her own right. She incorporates sor’e (tattoo designs) taught to her by other elders of her clan such as her father-in-law Emmanuel Jonevari (c.1920-2010) and Nathan Gama, Chief of Ematé clan men. As an astute student, Diona now draws from a wealth of traditional Ömie designs which she paints in her own innovative and expressive style. Her wealth of knowledge and extraordinary natural talent and skills firmly place her among the most significant Ömie artists.

Collections Private Collections

Selected Group Exhibitions 2017

2016

PNG, It’s Dynamite, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Stories Are Forever, presented by Vivien Anderson Gallery at Merricks House Gallery, Mornington Peninsula, VIC, Australia.

The Sacred Mountain, Illuminated: Ömie Barkcloth Art of Papua New Guinea, Aboriginal Signature - Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium.

Mionomehi Oriseegé (Ancestral Paths), Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia.

BRUNEAF (Brussels Non-European Art Fair): Omie Artists presented by Aboriginal Signature - Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium.

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

Hijominöe Modéjadé (Guided by Ancestors): Ömie Artists 10th Anniversary Exhibition, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

An Exploration of Bark (in association with Ömie Artists and Maningrida Arts & Culture), Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Luminous Mountain, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

To Dance in Beauty: Ömie Tapa from New Guinea, Blak Dot Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Painted and Woven in Song: Ömie Barkcloths and Bilums, RAFT Artspace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Nohi Dahoru’e - Nohi Nioge (Our Mountain - Our Art), The Depot Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

We hold our mother’s teachings in our hearts and hands, Short St. Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia.

Miami International Art Fair / Art Palm Beach, USA., presented by Osborne Samuel, London, UK.

Diona JONEVARI (SUWARARI) Mahudan’e, Vison’e, Dahoru’e Ohu’o Buborianö’e - Pig Tusk Jewellery (Customary Wealth), Eel Bone Jewellery For Initiation Nasal Septum Piercings, Ömie Mountains And Beaks Of The Papuan Hornbill Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 159 x 64cm 15-093

The lines that run through the work are known as orriseegé (paths/pathways) and provide a compositional framework for the designs.

The border design within each frame is composed of two designs - the triangles are dahoru’e, Ömie mountains, and the zig-zag design over the triangles is buborianö’e, the beaks of the Papuan Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus). Hornbills are the largest flying birds that can be found in the Ömie mountains. In one version of the story of how the first Ömie Ancestors emerged onto the surface of the earth from Awai’i underground cave at Vavago, a man used his hornbill beak forehead adornment as a tool to chisel his way through the rock and into the light of the world.

The curved design which is struck-through by a line is mahudanö’e, pig tusks. These are displayed on necklaces which usually consist of two tusks bound together in opposite directions with natural bush fibre necklace string. Pig’s tusks are the traditional form of wealth for Ömie tribespeople and are often used for brideprice. During ceremonies, rituals and dancing pig’s tusk necklaces are worn by men and sometimes, although very rarely, by high-ranking women elders. The pig’s tusks have mouthpieces which male dancers bite, displaying the object to make themselves look like fierce warriors. In the time of the ancestors when tribal conflicts, village raids and retribution were an everyday part of life, no doubt this would have served a very important purpose.

The curved design represents vison’e, jewellery for the nasal septum made from a small bone from the bones of the eel. This piercing was a very important part of the Ömie initiation rite for boys and girls known as the Ujawé. The Ujawé initiation rites of piercing and tattooing were performed in underground chambers known as guai.

Diona JONEVARI (SUWARARI) Dahoru’e, Buborianö’e, Vë’i Ija Ahe, Odunaigö’e, Jö’o Sor’e, Sabu Ahe Ohu’o Siha’e - Ömie Mountains, Beaks Of The Papuan Hornbill, Bone Of The Lizard, Jungle Vine, Uncurling Fern Fronds, Spots Of The Wood-Boring Grub And Fruit Of The Sihe Tree Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 145 x 63cm 15-086

The lines that run through the work are known as orriseegé (paths/pathways) and provide a compositional framework for the designs. The border design within each frame is composed of two designs - the triangles are dahoru’e, Ömie mountains, and the zig-zag design over the triangles is buborianö’e, the beaks of the Papuan Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus). Hornbills are the largest flying birds that can be found in the Ömie mountains. The plant motif is odunaigö’e, a climbing jungle vine that has sharp thorns. Diona originally observed this old Ematé clan design at Gojavobehi village where Chief of Ematé clan men, Nathan Gama, was making a kukuhone (bamboo smoking pipe). This was one of the designs he was etching into its surface. The design with rows of black squares and dots is vë’i ija ahe, the bone of the lizard. Diona learnt this design from her father-in-law, Emmanuel Jonevari. This is the story for the vë’i ija ahe design, as told to Diona by Emmanuel (recorded April 2011 at Godibehi village): In the time of the ancestors, there were two lizards known as evené that lived on Huvaimo (Mt. Lamington), a male and female. The lizards were very large and their heads were predominantly red and black in colour with some yellow also. We Ömie people can never kill or eat the lizards because they live in a secret place on the banks of jov’e Iliri (the Iliri River). Sometimes our ancestors would see the lizards sun-baking on a flat stone by the river but they are fast and retreat quickly. The stones and rocks where the lizards live are yellow [1] and when the water of the Iliri River flows through this area it turns a milky colour.

[1]

This is likely to be sulpher from the volcano

The spots within the orriseegé are sabu ahe representing the spots which can be seen on the sides of a wood-boring grub. This grub is sacred to Ömie people as it plays an

important part within the creation story of how Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) came to be volcanic. It is a traditional soru’e (tattoo design) which was most commonly tattooed running in one line under both eyes.

The diamond design represents the fruit of the sihe tree. Sihe is a yellow fruit found in the rainforest and often eaten by cassowaries. In the time of the Ancestors, during times of tribal warfare, the Ömie male warriors had no food while they were defending their borders in the forest far from their villages so they survived by chewing the sihe fruit, swallowing the juice and then they would spit out the pulp. The siha’e design is sometimes also called vinohu’e, the men’s tattoo design of the bellybutton. The diamond shape was tattooed around men’s navals during the Ujawé initiation rite.

Diona JONEVARI (SUWARARI) Vaigu Dere, Jij’e, Dahoru’e Ohu’o Buborianö’e - Bush Snail Shells, Stars, Ömie Mountains And Beaks Of The Papuan Hornbill Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 104.5 x 84cm 15-046

The border and line that runs through the work are known as orriseegé or ‘pathways’ and provide a compositional framework for the designs.

The border design within each frame is composed of two designs - the triangles are dahoru’e, Ömie mountains, and the zig-zag design over the triangles is buborianö’e, the beaks of the Papuan Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus). Hornbills are the largest flying birds that can be found in the Ömie mountains.

The spiral design is vaigu dere, shells of the bush snail. Bush snail shells are usually found in the rainforest, and were used in the time of the Ancestors for the important social custom known as haiwu’e, the chewing of betelnut. This custom is practiced in everyday life but especially during feasting and dancing after Ujawé initiation tattooing rites as well as for marriage ceremonies. The shell would be ground up into a powder, similar to lime powders used today, and then chewed with the fruit of the betelnut. It is said that betelnut-chewing enduces a trance-like state in the dancer.

The small cross designs are jije, stars.

Diona was originally taught this old design of vaigu dere ohu’o jije from the late Chief of Ematé clan women, Mary Naumo of Godibehi village.

Brenda KESI (ARIRÉ) Birth Date Place of Birth

Language Skin/Clan

circa 1937 Enopé village, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea Ömie Ematé

Brenda was a young girl during the turmoil of World War II and she remembers the 1951 eruption of Huvaimo (Mount Lamington). Brenda’s mother was Go’ovino and her father was Valéla, both Ematé clanspeople from old Enopé village between the Jordan and Maruma Rivers. It was here that her mother taught her how to sew her grandmother, Munne’s sihoti’e taliobamë’e - designs of the mud.

This method of appliquéing mud-dyed barkcloth was first practiced by Suja, the first woman and mother of the world, as told in the Ömie creation story. Brenda has begun to teach her sister Teresa Kione (Avur’e) to sew the ancestral Ömie sihoti’e designs such as wo’ohohe - ground-burrowing spider and taigu taigu’e ancestral tattoo designs. Brenda lives happily by the Jordan River with her husband Robinson Kesi.

Collections National Gallery of Australia (NGA), Canberra, ACT, Australia.

University of Queensland Anthropology Museum, Brisbane, QLD, Australia Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK. Museum Fünf Kontinente, Munich, Germany Drusilla Modjeska Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia Private Collections

Selected Group Exhibitions 2017 PNG, It’s Dynamite - Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Ömie Women Artists - Tunbridge Gallery, Perth, WA, Australia.

2017 Stories Are Forever, presented by Vivien Anderson Gallery at Merricks House

Gallery, Mornington Peninsula, VIC, Australia.

2016 Moonlight, Mountains and Pig Tusks: Painted Wisdom of the Ömie Chiefs - Vivien

Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

The Sacred Mountain, Illuminated: Ömie Barkcloth Art of Papua New Guinea,

Aboriginal Signature - Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium.

New Paintings: Ömie Artists of Papua New Guinea - Harvey Art Projects, Sun

Valley, Idaho, USA.

Parcours des Mondes, Paris (Ömie Artists presented by Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium).

Mionomehi Oriseegé (Ancestral Paths) - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia.

2015 Hijominöe Modéjadé (Guided by Ancestors): Ömie Artists 10th Anniversary Exhibition - Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Mein Freund Der Baum (My Friend, The Tree) - ArtKelch, Schorndorf, Germany.

Duvahe Nioge: Barkcloths by the Senior Ömie Artists of Papua New Guinea Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

An Exploration of Bark (in association with Ömie Artists and Maningrida Arts & Culture) - Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Art Karlsruhe 2015 (Ömie Artists presented by ArtKelch), Karslruhe, Germany.

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.

Luminous Mountain - Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Ömie Artists: Contemporary Tapa Art from Papua New Guinea - ArtKelch,

Freiburg & Stuttgart, Germany.

New Paintings by Ömie Chiefs and Senior Artists - Aboriginal & Pacific Art,

Sydney, NSW, Australia.

2013 Made in Oceania: Tapa – Art and Social Landscapes - Rautenstrauch-Joest

Museum, Cologne, Germany.

Volcanic Visions: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie - Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, USA.

Suja’s Daughters - Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Painted and Woven in Song: Ömie Barkcloths and Bilums - RAFT Artspace, Alice

Springs, NT, Australia.

Of Spirit and Splendour: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

2012 Art of the Ömie: Barkcloth Paintings from Papua New Guinea - Harvey Art

Projects, Sun Valley ID, USA.

2012 Nohi niogero aru’aho ma’ene munomehi jajuho (Our barkcloth holds the spirit of

our culture) - RAFT Artspace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Barkcloth Paintings by Ömie Chiefs and Elders - William Mora Galleries,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2011 No si hijomiono’o jabesi sor’e jajivo (We are painting the designs of our Ancestors) - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

2010 Rweromo garé niogehu mamabahe ajivé (Come and see the beauty and

brightness of our barkcloths) - Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

2009 Ömie: Barkcloths from New Guinea - Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

2008 Ömie Art of Mt. Lamington - New Guinea Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Brenda KESI (ARIRÉ) Wo’ohohe - Ground-Burrowing Spider Appliquéd Mud-Dyed Nioge (Barkcloth) 150 x 70.5cm 15-073

Brenda Kesi (Ariré) has created an ancestral sihoti’e taliobamë’e (design of the mud) known as wo’ohohe and representing the ground-burrowing spider, just as she was taught by her mother, Go’ovino. This design can be traced to the the old Ematé clan village of Enopé which was abandoned due to the 1951 eruption of Huvaimo (Mount Lamington). Brenda recalls how, before that, her mother was taught this design by her mother, Munne. She explains how in the old days of making barkcloths the women had no paints so they would soak the barkcloth in mud, cut the desired pieces and then sew them onto the plain barkcloth. The contrasting effects would result in various bold visual designs. The design was sewn with a bat-wing bone needle and a river reed was shredded to create the sewing thread.

The Ömie creation story tells of how the very first sihoti’e nioge (mud-dyed barkcloth) was created by Suja, the first Ömie woman and mother of the world, under instruction from Mina, the first Ömie man, after she experienced her first menstruation. Suja dyed the plain barkcloth in the volcanic clay at the River Uhojo at the base of the sacred Mount Obo. Suja wore the mud-dyed barkcloth during her menstruation and lived in seclusion in a small hut known as jé’o jarwé (also called ivi’ino’ové’tové) for its duration.

Brenda KESI (ARIRÉ) Sihoti’e Taliobamë’e - Ancestral Design Of The Mud Nioge Taliobamë’e - Appliquéd Barkcloth 84.5 x 96.5cm 16-020

Brenda Kesi (Ariré) has created an ancestral sihoti’e taliobamë’e (design of the mud).

In this rare instance, Brenda has not used the grey-brown coloured mud to dye the barkcloth or the appliqué designs. Rather, in the very same manner of the more familiar sihoti’e (mud-dyed barkcloths) where the dark mud-dyed barkcloth is used to contrast with the light barkcloth in its natural undyed state (or vice versa), instead, here Brenda has used the natural white coloured barkcloth to contrast with the natural brown coloured barkcloth. What fascinates here is how the work functions and is recognisable as a sihoti’e or “mudcloth”, yet technically, it is not. With the sophisticated, progressive spirit of a true artist, this work sees Brenda subtly pushing the boundaries of possibility of this ancient artform, to stunning effect.

Brenda was taught this design by her mother, Go’ovino at the old Ematé clan village of Enopé which was abandoned due to the 1951 eruption of Huvaimo (Mount Lamington).

Brenda recalls how, before that, her mother was taught this design by her mother, Munne. She explains how in the old days of making barkcloths the women had no paints so they would soak the barkcloth in mud, cut the desired pieces and then sew them onto the plain barkcloth. The contrasting effects would result in various bold visual designs. The design was sewn with a bat-wing bone needle and a river reed was shredded to create the sewing thread. The Ömie creation story tells of how the very first sihoti’e nioge (mud-dyed barkcloth) was created by Suja, the first Ömie woman and mother of the world, under instruction from Mina, the first Ömie man, after she experienced her first menstruation. Suja dyed the plain barkcloth in the volcanic clay at the River Uhojo at the base of the sacred Mount Obo. Suja wore the mud-dyed barkcloth during her menstruation and lived in seclusion in a small hut known as jé’o jarwé (also called ivi’ino’ové’tové) for its duration.

Brenda KESI (ARIRÉ) Taliobamë’e - Ancestral Design Of The Mud Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 105 x 77cm 15-050

Brenda Kesi (Ariré) has created an ancestral sihoti’e taliobamë’e (design of the mud) known as wo’ohohe and representing the ground-burrowing spider, just as she was taught by her mother, Go’ovino. This design can be traced to the the old Ematé clan village of Enopé which was abandoned due to the 1951 eruption of Huvaimo (Mount Lamington). Brenda recalls how, before that, her mother was taught this design by her mother, Munne. She explains how in the old days of making barkcloths the women had no paints so they would soak the barkcloth in mud, cut the desired pieces and then sew them onto the plain barkcloth. The contrasting effects would result in various bold visual designs. The design was sewn with a bat-wing bone needle and a river reed was shredded to create the sewing thread.

The Ömie creation story tells of how the very first sihoti’e nioge (mud-dyed barkcloth) was created by Suja, the first Ömie woman and mother of the world, under instruction from Mina, the first Ömie man, after she experienced her first menstruation. Suja dyed the plain barkcloth in the volcanic clay at the River Uhojo at the base of the sacred Mount Obo. Suja wore the mud-dyed barkcloth during her menstruation and lived in seclusion in a small hut known as jé’o jarwé (also called ivi’ino’ové’tové) for its duration.

Brenda KESI (ARIRÉ) Kutito - Design Of The Caterpillar Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 92 x 97cm 16-012

Brenda Kesi (Ariré) has painted an ancestral Ematé clan design known as kutito [2], the caterpillar. This design can be traced to the the old Ematé clan village of Enopé which was abandoned due to the 1951 eruption of Huvaimo (Mount Lamington). Brenda recalls how her mother was taught this design by her mother, Munne. Brenda is the only Ömie woman who remembers this ancient and important design.

An identical design has been identified in the collection of the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum, collected in Oro Province in the 1950s or earlier. (UQ Anthropolgy Museum Collection Registration No. 1410).

[2] This design is also sometimes called kutitoi [1]

Brenda KESI (ARIRÉ) Wo’ohohe - Ground-burrowing Spider Appliquéd Mud-Dyed Nioge (Barkcloth) 98.5 x 60.5cm 13-030

Brenda Kesi (Ariré) has created an ancestral sihoti’e taliobamë’e (design of the mud) known as wo’ohohe and representing the ground-burrowing spider, just as she was taught by her mother, Go’ovino. This design can be traced to the the old Ematé clan village of Enopé which was abandoned due to the 1951 eruption of Huvaimo (Mount Lamington). Brenda recalls how, before that, her mother was taught this design by her mother, Munne. She explains how in the old days of making barkcloths the women had no paints so they would soak the barkcloth in mud, cut the desired pieces and then sew them onto the plain barkcloth. The contrasting effects would result in various bold visual designs. The design was sewn with a bat-wing bone needle and a river reed was shredded to create the sewing thread.

The Ömie creation story tells of how the very first sihoti’e nioge (mud-dyed barkcloth) was created by Suja, the first Ömie woman and mother of the world, under instruction from Mina, the first Ömie man, after she experienced her first menstruation. Suja dyed the plain barkcloth in the volcanic clay at the River Uhojo at the base of the sacred Mount Obo. Suja wore the mud-dyed barkcloth during her menstruation and lived in seclusion in a small hut known as jé’o jarwé (also called ivi’ino’ové’tové) for its duration.

Brenda KESI (ARIRÉ) Taliobamë’e - Ancestral Design Of The Mud Appliquéd Mud-Dyed Nioge (Barkcloth) 110 x 43cm 15-074

Brenda Kesi (Ariré) has created an ancestral sihoti’e taliobamë’e (design of the mud) known as wo’ohohe and representing the ground-burrowing spider, just as she was taught by her mother, Go’ovino. This design can be traced to the the old Ematé clan village of Enopé which was abandoned due to the 1951 eruption of Huvaimo (Mount Lamington). Brenda recalls how, before that, her mother was taught this design by her mother, Munne. She explains how in the old days of making barkcloths the women had no paints so they would soak the barkcloth in mud, cut the desired pieces and then sew them onto the plain barkcloth. The contrasting effects would result in various bold visual designs. The design was sewn with a bat-wing bone needle and a river reed was shredded to create the sewing thread.

The Ömie creation story tells of how the very first sihoti’e nioge (mud-dyed barkcloth) was created by Suja, the first Ömie woman and mother of the world, under instruction from Mina, the first Ömie man, after she experienced her first menstruation. Suja dyed the plain barkcloth in the volcanic clay at the River Uhojo at the base of the sacred Mount Obo. Suja wore the mud-dyed barkcloth during her menstruation and lived in seclusion in a small hut known as jé’o jarwé (also called ivi’ino’ové’tové) for its duration.

Mala NARI (MATOSI) Birth Date circa 1958 Deceased 2015 Place of Birth Kavojo Village (Gora), Oro

Province, Papua New Guinea Language Ömie Skin/Clan Ematé

Mala’s mother was Waganami Togarino of Gora village (Saro’ore clan) and her father was A’oji Negunna of Godibehi village (Ematé clan). Mala has three children. Her husband, now passed, was Elo Nari. Mala was taught to paint Ömie designs by her grandmother and remembers watching her at Kërö village (an old village of Gora) as a young girl. Mala loved to sit with her grandmother and learn about Ömie history, the natural environment and how to nurture the land. Mala’s main designs are: tuböru unö’e - eggs of the Dwarf Cassowary; dahoru’e - Ömie mountains; munë’e/hitai - river boulders; buboriano’e - beaks of the Papuan Hornbill; and odunaigö’e - jungle vines. From 1996 to 2002, before the arrival of David Baker and the formation of the Ömie Artists cooperative, Mala was instrumental in bringing about a revitalisation of barkcloth painting in Jiapa and Duharenu villages. She is a very strong culture woman and is well known across Ömie territory for her powerful singing voice. Her work was exhibited in the 17th Biennale of Sydney at the Museum of Contemporary Art and in the landmark exhibition of Ömie art Wisdom of the Mountain: Art of the Ömie at the National Gallery of Victoria International.

Collections National Gallery of Australia. (NGA), Canberra, ACT, Australia.

National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Sammlung Alison & Peter W. Klein, Eberdingen-Nussdorf, Germany.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2016 Moonlight, Mountains and Pig Tusks: Painted Wisdom of the Ömie Chiefs, Vivien

Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

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, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Duvahe Nioge: Barkcloths by the Senior Ömie Artists of Papua New Guinea, Vivien

Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

An Exploration of Bark (in association with Ömie Artists and Maningrida Arts &

Culture), Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Under the Volcano: Art of Ömie from Papua New Guinea, Museum Fünf

Kontinente, Munich, Germany.

2014 Luminous Mountain, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Ömie Artists: Contemporary Tapa Art from Papua New Guinea, ArtKelch,

Freiburg & Stuttgart, Germany.

Nohi jajwe boromu mai dahoru Huvaimo va’ene (Our Culture is Strong like Our Mountain, Huvaimo), Harvey Art Projects, Sun Valley, ID, USA.

To Dance in Beauty: Ömie Tapa from New Guinea, Blak Dot Gallery, Melbourne,

VIC, Australia.

2013 Volcanic Visions: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, USA. 2012 Nohi Dahoru’e - Nohi Nioge (Our Mountain - Our Art), The Depot Gallery, Sydney,

NSW, Australia.

Contemporary Ömie Bark Cloth, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Art of the Ömie: Barkcloth Paintings from Papua New Guinea, Harvey Art

Projects, Sun Valley ID, United Stated of America

Second Skins: Painted Barkcloth from New Guinea and Central Africa, Fowler

Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Nohi niogero aru’aho ma’ene munomehi jajuho (Our barkcloth holds the spirit of

our culture), Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Barkcloth Paintings by Ömie Chiefs and Elders, William Mora Galleries,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2011 No si hijomiono’o jabesi sor’e jajivo (We are painting the designs of our Ancestors), ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

2010 Rweromo garé niogehu mamabahe ajivé (Come and see the beauty and brightness

of our barkcloths), Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

17th Biennale of Sydney: The Beauty of Distance - Songs of Survival in a

2010

2009

2008

Precarious Age, Museum of Contemporary Art, Syndey, NSW, Australia.

The Art of Ömie, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Wisdom of the Mountain: Art of the Ömie, National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) International, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Ömie: Barkcloths from New Guinea, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Ömie Art of Mt. Lamington, New Guinea Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Mala NARI (MATOSI) Dahoru’e, Hitai, Buborianö’e Ohu’o Tuböre Une - Ömie Mountains, River Boulders, Beaks Of The Papuan Hornbill And Eggs Of The Dwarf Cassowary Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 184 x 128cm 14-105

Mala has painted Dahoru’e, the design of the Ömie mountains. Within each mountain is the hitai design, representing river boulders. This is an important site where Mala’s Ancestors defeated the invading Orokaivan tribesmen. The rows of small black triangles like sawtooths at their edges are buborianö’e, the beaks of the Papuan Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus).

In one version of the story of how the first Ömie Ancestors emerged onto the surface of the earth from Awai’i underground cave at Vavago, a man used his hornbill beak forehead adornment as a tool to chisel his way through the rock and into the light of the world.

The bands running through the work are known as orriseegé or (paths/pathways) and provide a compositional framework for the designs.

This is a customary barkcloth blanket, which, like Ömie women’s barkcloth skirts, are also called nioge.

It is the largest nioge painted in the period 2009 – 2015.

Fate SAVARI (ISAWDI) Birth Date Place of Birth

Language Skin/Clan

circa 1933 Sidonejo village, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea Ömie Dahorurajé (formerly Evorajé)

Fate has been painting for Ömie Artists since 2009, however, she is undisputedly the most knowledgeable artist and (humble) female cultural leader in all of Ömie territory as she has been painting her entire life since she was a very young girl. Her mother was Majaho and her father was the legendary Lokirro, both Dahorurajé clanspeople from Sidonejo village. Fate tells a vivid account of her time during the Second World War: “I was in the house with my family at Sidonejo when we first heard the 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.” Fate learnt a wealth of soru’e (tattoo designs) from her mother. She depicts her knowledge of Ömie custom creations and history in splendid detail in her paintings. Through the complexity, sophistication and phenomenal diversity of her designs, Fate’s paintings take us to the source - to the very heart of the world of Ömie. With each new painting Fate reveals new ancestral knowledge and prides herself on executing that knowledge in the most visually compelling way possible, she is a true artist of the highest order. Fate has taught her designs to her daughter, Hilda Mekio, as well as her daughter-in-law, Linda-Grace Savari. Fate is the proud mother of seven children.

Collections National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK. Museum Victoria, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

British Museum, London, UK. Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Private Collections.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2017 PNG, It’s Dynamite - Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Ömie Women Artists - Tunbridge Gallery, Perth, WA, Australia.

Stories Are Forever - presented by Vivien Anderson Gallery at Merricks House

Gallery, Mornington Peninsula, VIC, Australia.

2016 Moonlight, Mountains and Pig Tusks: Painted Wisdom of the Ömie Chiefs - Vivien

Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Mionomehi Oriseegé (Ancestral Paths) - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia.

2015 Hijominöe Modéjadé (Guided by Ancestors): Ömie Artists 10th Anniversary

Exhibition - Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Mein Freund Der Baum (My Friend, The Tree) - ArtKelch, Schorndorf, Germany.

Duvahe Nioge: Barkcloths by the Senior Ömie Artists of Papua New Guinea Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Art Karlsruhe 2015 (Ömie Artists presented by ArtKelch), Karslruhe, Germany.

2015 Shifting Patterns: Pacific Barkcloth Painting, Room 91 - British Museum,

London, UK.

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.

Luminous Mountain - Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Ömie Artists: Contemporary Tapa Art from Papua New Guinea - ArtKelch,

Freiburg & Stuttgart, Germany.

New Paintings by Ömie Chiefs and Senior Artists - Aboriginal & Pacific Art,

Sydney, NSW, Australia.

2013 Made in Oceania: Tapa – Art and Social Landscapes - Rautenstrauch-Joest

Museum, Cologne, Germany.

Volcanic Visions: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie - Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, USA.

Suja’s Daughters - Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Of Spirit and Splendour: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

2012 Art of the Ömie: Barkcloth Paintings from Papua New Guinea - Harvey Art

Projects, Sun Valley ID, USA.

Second Skins: Painted Barkcloth from New Guinea and Central Africa - Fowler

Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Barkcloth Paintings by Ömie Chiefs and Elders - William Mora Galleries,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2011

2010

No si hijomiono’o jabesi sor’e jajivo (We are painting the designs of our Ancestors) - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

Rweromo garé niogehu mamabahe ajivé (Come and see the beauty and brightness of our barkcloths) - Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

Fate SAVARI (ISAWDI) Mweje (Deje, Suhé, Ijo Bunë, Mokojö Anö’e, Mahuva’oje, Ujë, Ije Bi’weje, Buborianö’e, Sabu Deje Ohu’o Mi’ija’ahe) - Gardens (With Yams, Red Pandanus, White Yams, Beaks Of The Parrot, Pig Hoofprints, Bees, Boys Chopping Tree Branches, Beaks Of Blyth’s Hornbill, Spots Of The Wood-Boring Grub And Old Animal Bones Found While Digging In The Garden) Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 104 x 73cm 13-029

This painting by Fate of mwe, mweje and or’e (gardens and paths through the garden) reveals, as Fate explains, that the lines commonly seen running throughout Ömie women’s paintings known as orriseegé or ‘pathways’, actually originate from the ancient mwe/mweje/or’e garden designs.

The border and intersecting lines are orriseegé or ‘pathways’ which, by intersecting, naturally form squares. These squares are, in fact, the main design of the painting, representing mweje (gardens) as well as providing a compositional framework for the other designs: The crosshatch design and also the parallel stripes that bisect some of the squares are also mwe, land and gardens.

The design of four bulbous protrusions within the squares are deje, yams.

The short bristle-like design is known as ijo bunë, representing the roots of trees after they have been chopped down in order to clear the garden for planting food. Another short bristle-like design that can be seen is dubi dubi’e, representing the leaf of a rainforest vine.

The small black infilled triangles are mokojö anö’e, representing the beaks of the parrot.

The solid black triangles are mahuva’ojé (mahero mwe ijeh’e), pig’s hoofprints - showing

how the garden has been trampled and destroyed by hungry pigs.

The circular concentrations of fine dots are ujë, bees.

The lines that run diagonally through the orriseegé are ije bi’weje – boys cutting the leaves of a tree. Fate explains: “The mother was cleaning the bush to make a garden with her two young sons. The boys climbed a tree to cut all of the branches and leaves down. The branches fell down and the mother took all of the leaves and threw them away. Then the mother got plenty of bananas, taro and yam to plant in their newly cleared garden. When they finished planting all of the plants, they ate all of the food from the garden and lived a long life.”

The chevron (arrow-tip) design that run through the orriseegé is buboriano’e, beaks of Blyth’s Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus).

The dots within the orriseegé are sabu deje, representing the spots which can be seen on the sides of a wood-boring grub. This grub is sacred to Ömie people as it plays an important part within the creation story of how Huvaimo (Mt. Lamington) came to be volcanic. It is a traditional sor’e (tattoo design) which was most commonly tattooed running in one line under both eyes. Today it is applied to Ömie people’s faces with natural pigments for dance performances.

The zig-zag design that runs through the orriseegé are mi’ija’ahe, animal bones.

Fate SAVARI (ISAWDI) Avinö’e Ohu’o Avin’ajivé - Design Of The Crescent Moon And Moonlight Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 108 x 60cm 16-008

Fate has painted a very special work representing Avinö’e ohu’o avin’ajivé, the crescent moon and moonlight. This design originates from the ancestral Dahorurajé clan story as described by her family still living in the Dahorurajé clanlands close to the volcano, Huvaimo.

THE OLD WOMAN WHO HUNG THE SUN AND MOON FROM THE TREE [1] A long time ago there lived an old woman who had a large bilum [2] (woven string-bag).

She carried the Sun, Moon and stars inside her bilum. She would pull the Sun out from her bilum and hang it high in the branch of a tree to bring the daylight. She would clear the bush from around the tree and the tree fork, keeping the area very clean. At the end of the day she would get the Sun and put it back inside her bilum. She would then take the Moon out from her bilum and hang it on the same tree branch, bringing the night.

She took all the stars out from her bilum and spread them across the sky.

One day a man saw the Sun. He started watching the Sun closely. As the Sun was rising, he followed it. He saw the old woman hanging the Sun and Moon and then hiding them inside her bilum. He said to himself, “Oh, that is what the old woman has been doing which brings the light and the darkness!”

The man went home to his village and told the story to all the people. He explained to them how the old woman was looking after the Sun, Moon and stars and how that was her work. Everyone in the village had thought she was working in her food garden each day, but really she was clearing the bush to make space for the Sun and Moon to be seen clearly and to shine brightly in the sky. © Lila Warrimou & Rex Warrimou (Sabïo); orally translated by Alban Sare; transcribed by Brennan King at Savodobehi village, 2010.

[2] In Ömie language, a large bilum is called a bojoy.

[1]

Fate SAVARI (ISAWDI) Vinöhu’e, Taigu Taigu’e Ohu’o Jö’o Sor’e - Tattoo Design Of The Bellybutton, Pattern Of A Leaf And Uncurling Fern Fronds Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 97 x 62cm 16-009

Fate learnt this design from her mother Majaho, a Dahorurajé clanwoman from the old Dahorurajé clan village, Sidonejo, which was situated close to Savodobehi village and the sacred Mount Obo (the home of the first people, Mina & Suja).

The conjoined concentric circles are vinöhu’e, the design of the bellybutton. This circlular design was tattooed around men’s navals during the ujawé initiation rite, which were performed in underground chambers known as guai. The vinohu’e tattoo design is sometimes also called siha’e, a design which represents the fruit of the sihe tree. Sihe is a yellow fruit found in the rainforest and often eaten by cassowaries. In the time of the ancestors during times of tribal warfare, the Ömie male warriors had no food while they were defending their borders in the forest far from their villages so they survived by chewing the sihe fruit, swallowing the juice and then they would spit out the pulp. And so the vinohu’e design is a powerful symbol for male warriors’ strength and endurance.

The squares are bisected by a design known as jö’o sor’e, uncurling fern fronds, which was traditionally tattooed on both sides of Ömie women’s cheeks/mouths for initiation.

The zig-zag designs are taigu taigu’e, an important ancetsral Ömie tattoo design believed to have originally been inspired by the pattern on a leaf. The border and lines that run through the works forming frames are known as orriseegé or ‘pathways’.

Fate also commented about this painting design, “These tattoo designs began in the time of our ancestors. They have been passed down from our ancestors to my grandmother, to my mother and then to me. If I do not paint this design, who is going to hold this after I pass away? I am painting so my children and granchildren learn, they will see and remember me and my designs. That is why I paint my tattoos on the barkcloth.” - Recorded on 5th April 2014, translated from Ömie to English by Raphael Bujava.

Pennyrose SOSA Birth Date Place of Birth

Language Skin/Clan

1976 Savodobehi Village, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea Ömie Dahoruraje [formerly Gusi’e (Nyoniraje sub-clan)]

Pauline-Rose Hago (Derami) is the daughter of Natalie Juvé, a Sahuoté clanwoman from Duharenu village who was also a barkcloth artist. As a young girl Pauline-Rose was adopted by Wilington Uruhé, the Paramount Chief of Ömie men. She has been fortunate to have learnt the traditional Sahuoté soru’e (tattoo designs) from her father Willington as she is now the foremost painter of important designs such as: taigu taigu’e - leaf pattern; siha’e - tree fruit; jö’o sor’e - uncurling fern fronds; as well as vë’i ija ahe - bone of the lizard. Her talents as a painter have seen her travel to Sydney, Australia. in 2009 with Dapeni Jonevari (Mokokari) to attend an exhibition of Ömie art. She was married to the late Simon Hago and together they had four children.

Collections National Gallery of Australia. (NGA), Canberra, ACT, Australia.

National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK. Gordon & Helen Heslop Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Private Collections

Selected Group Exhibitions 2017

2016

Stories Are Forever, presented by Vivien Anderson Gallery at Merricks House Gallery, Mornington Peninsula, VIC, Australia.

Moonlight, Mountains and Pig Tusks: Painted Wisdom of the Ömie Chiefs, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

The Sacred Mountain, Illuminated: Ömie Barkcloth Art of Papua New Guinea,

2016 Aboriginal Signature - Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium.

Mionomehi Oriseegé (Ancestral Paths), Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia.

2015 Hijominöe Modéjadé (Guided by Ancestors): Ömie Artists 10th Anniversary

Exhibition, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

An Exploration of Bark (in association with Ömie Artists and Maningrida Arts &

Culture), Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia.

2014 Nohi jajwe boromu mai dahoru Huvaimo va’ene (Our Culture is Strong like Our Mountain, Huvaimo), Harvey Art Projects, Sun Valley, ID, USA.

To Dance in Beauty: Ömie Tapa from New Guinea, Blak Dot Gallery, Melbourne,

VIC, Australia.

2013 Volcanic Visions: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, USA.

Suja’s Daughters, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

2012 Nohi Dahoru’e - Nohi Nioge (Our Mountain - Our Art), The Depot Gallery, Sydney,

NSW, Australia.

Contemporary Ömie Bark Cloth, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Art of the Ömie: Barkcloth Paintings from Papua New Guinea, Harvey Art

Projects, Sun Valley ID, United Stated of America

Second Skins: Painted Barkcloth from New Guinea and Central Africa, Fowler

Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Nohi niogero aru’aho ma’ene munomehi jajuho (Our barkcloth holds the spirit of

our culture), Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

2011 No si hijomiono’o jabesi sor’e jajivo (We are painting the designs of our

Ancestors), ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

2010 The Art of Ömie, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Miami International Art Fair / Art Palm Beach, USA. presented by Osborne

Samuel, London 2009 Wisdom of the Mountain: Art of the Ömie, National Gallery of Victoria (NGV)

International, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Ömie: Barkcloths from New Guinea, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

2007 In the Shadow of a Volcano: The Barkcloth Art of the Ömie, Holmes à Court

Gallery, Perth, WA, Australia.

2006 Ömie: The Barkcloth Art of Ömie, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Pennyrose SOSA Hartu’e - Cassowary Breast-Bone Necklace Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 113 x 53cm 15-088

SGD 3,275 (excluding GST)

Pennyrose has painted the customary barkcloth design of hartu’e, representing the pendant of a necklace made from the breastbone of a cassowary. She was taught to paint this design by her mother Kiadora, who learnt from her mother, Pennyrose’s grandmother, Suwo.

Originally, “in the times of the ancestors”, the pendant was created from a shell which was obtained the from coastal tribes of Oro Province by means of trade and they also collected them from the beach. Most shell hartu’e and other shell necklaces that can still be found in the Ömie mountains were originally traded by the owners’ parents or grandparents a long time ago. These days the hartu’e “shell” pendant is fashioned from the breastbone of the cassowary to replicate the shell. Hartu’e have mouthpieces behind the shell which dancers bite to display in their mouths during ceremonial dance performances.

The border and line that runs through the middle of the work are known as orriseegé or ‘pathways’ and provide a compositional framework for the design. The black rows of triangles are dahoru’e, the design of the Ömie mountains.

Sarah UGIBARI Birth Date Place of Birth

Language Skin/Clan

circa 1919 Kiara Village, Managalasi Plateau, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea Ömie Dahorurajé (Sidorajé)

Venerated Ömie elder Sarah Ugibari (the oldest living Ömie, at approximately ninety-seven years of age) is the pre-eminent Ömie artist. Born into the Managalasi language group, Sarah’s mother, Maranabara, was from Koruwo village and her father, Suevini, was from Kiara village, both high on Hydrographer’s Range above Managalasi Plateau.

As a young woman, Sarah married Abraham Ugibari, an Ömie man of the Sidorajé clan from Gora village. In recent years, Sarah has begun the crucial task of imparting her store of ancient wisdom to daughter Ilma.

Among other things, this has involved Sarah teaching 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.

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. Subsequently this group split into separate tribes which both still celebrate ‘Mina and Suja’, the shared ancestral creation story about the first man and woman. They also have many customs and barkcloth designs in common. Sarah creates works originating from both tribes because she was born Managalasi but as a young woman married an Ömie man. It was she who brought knowledge of Managalasi culture into the Ömie realm. Sarah’s painted Ömie designs depict traditional Sidorajé clan tattoo markings, while her painted Managalasi designs originate from Koruwo and Kiara villages. Her sihoti’e nioge (appliquéd mud-dyed barkcloth) designs, in the form of Chiefs’ ‘prestige’ barkcloths, are derived from both tribes. These barkcloths are the most sacred Ömie artefacts in existence because they relate directly to the ancestral creation story of ‘Mina and Suja’. Ömie creation tells how the very first sihoti’e nioge was created by Suja, the first Ömie woman and mother of the world, under instruction from Mina, the first Ömie man, after she experienced her first menstruation. Suja dyed the plain barkcloth in volcanic clay at River Uhojo at the base of sacred Mount Obo. She wore the mud-dyed barkcloth

during her menstruation and lived in seclusion in a small hut known as jé’o jarwé for its duration.

Sarah Ugibari is one of the few master painters of ancient sor’e (tattoo) designs. Her knowledge of these age-old markings was attained by examining the tattoos covering her husband’s body; these he had earned during adolescence as a part of his Ujawé (ceremonial initiation). The multiplicity of Sarah’s Ujawé sor’e (initiation rite tattoos), as demonstrated on her painted barkcloths, attests to her depth of knowledge of this sacred ceremony. This affirms her place as the ‘Mother’ of Ujawé wisdom among the Ömie and Managalasi tribes. Sarah is also the foremost authority on customary dress and adornment, particularly wéhirive’oho (hair binding) which indicates a young woman’s readiness for marriage. She spends days preparing the hair of young women for initiation, bride-price and marriage ceremonies.

Sarah’s eyesight began to deteriorate in mid-2015 and she no longer produces barkcloth herself. By passing these skills and knowledge on to her daughter Ilma, Sarah has ensured that her noble legacy will continue.

Collections National Gallery of Australia. (NGA), Canberra, ACT, Australia.

National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Museum of New Zealand. Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand.

British Museum, London, UK. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK. Museum Fünf Kontinente, Munich, Germany.

The Arthur Roe Collection, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Ross Bonthorne Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Private Collections

Selected Solo Exhibitions 2016 Sarah Ugibari: Ujawé Mamu (Mother of Initiation Rites), Andrew Baker Art Dealer,

Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Sarah Ugibari, RAFT south, Hobart, Tasmania

Selected Group Exhibitions 2017 Stories Are Forever, presented by Vivien Anderson Gallery at Merricks House

Gallery, Mornington Peninsula, VIC, Australia.

2016 Moonlight, Mountains and Pig Tusks: Painted Wisdom of the Ömie Chiefs, Vivien

Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

The Sacred Mountain, Illuminated: Ömie Barkcloth Art of Papua New Guinea,

Aboriginal Signature - Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium.

New Paintings: Ömie Artists of Papua New Guinea, Harvey Art Projects, Sun

Valley, ID, USA. 2015 Hijominöe Modéjadé (Guided by Ancestors): Ömie Artists 10th Anniversary

Exhibition, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Mein Freund Der Baum (My Friend, The Tree), ArtKelch, Schorndorf, Germany.

Duvahe Nioge: Barkcloths by the Senior Ömie Artists of Papua New Guinea, Vivien

Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

An Exploration of Bark (in association with Ömie Artists and Maningrida Arts &

Culture), Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Art Karlsruhe 2015 (Ömie Artists presented by ArtKelch), Karslruhe, Germany.

2015 Shifting Patterns: Pacific Barkcloth Painting, Room 91, British Museum, London, UK.

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.

Luminous Mountain, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Ömie Artists: Contemporary Tapa Art from Papua New Guinea, ArtKelch,

Freiburg & Stuttgart, Germany.

New Paintings by Ömie Chiefs and Senior Artists, Aboriginal & Pacific Art,

Sydney, NSW, Australia.

2013 Made in Oceania: Tapa – Art and Social Landscapes, Rautenstrauch-Joest

Museum, Cologne, Germany.

Volcanic Visions: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, USA.

Suja’s Daughters, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Of Spirit and Splendour: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie, ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

2012 Art of the Ömie: Barkcloth Paintings from Papua New Guinea, Harvey Art

Projects, Sun Valley ID, United Stated of America

Second Skins: Painted Barkcloth from New Guinea and Central Africa, Fowler

Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

2012 Nohi niogero aru’aho ma’ene munomehi jajuho (Our barkcloth holds the spirit of

our culture), Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Barkcloth Paintings by Ömie Chiefs and Elders, William Mora Galleries,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2011 No si hijomiono’o jabesi sor’e jajivo (We are painting the designs of our Ancestors), ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

2010 Rweromo garé niogehu mamabahe ajivé (Come and see the beauty and brightness

of our barkcloths), Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

Sarah UGIBARI Maijaro I’e Hö’oje - Morning Rays Of The Sun Shining Down On The Forest Appliquéd Mud-Dyed Nioge (Barkcloth) 121 x 60.5cm 15-032

Sarah Ugibari has created a design known as maijaro i’e hö’oje. The vertical lines, she explains, are the morning rays of the sun shining down onto the forest. This is an ancestral sihoti’e design (design of the mud) whose origins can be traced back to the Koruwo village area on the Managalasi plateau circa 1880. The design was sewn with a bat-wing bone needle and a river reed was shredded to create the sewing thread. This particular piece is the largest Sarah ever created of this design.

The Ömie creation story tells of how the very first sihoti’e nioge was created by Suja, the first Ömie woman and mother of the world, under instruction from Mina, the first Ömie man, after she experienced her first menstruation. Suja dyed the plain barkcloth in the volcanic clay at the River Uhojo at the base of the sacred Mount Obo. Suja wore the mud-dyed barkcloth during her menstruation and lived in seclusion in a small hut known as jé’o jarwé (also called ivi’ino’ové’tové) for its duration. Ömie legend tells of how in the very beginning when the first ancestors emerged from Awai’i underground cave onto the surface of the earth, Ömie and Managalasi people were one tribe but later split into two tribes. This is why both Ömie and Managalasi people share many of the same ancient barkcoth designs, including sihoti’e.

It was extremely fortunate that Sarah married an Ömie man and moved to his village otherwise her important art may have been lost because in both of the Managalasi villages, Koruwo and Kiara, where she grew up, the missionaries collected all traditional cultural items including barkcloths, created piles and burnt everything.

They also imposed a ban on traditional initiation, marriage and funeral ceremonies and the production of barkcloth. Sarah’s art has taught us that the historical cultural links between Ömie and Managalasi people is incredibly strong and that the practice of sihoti’e, as evidenced in the Ömie creation stories, is ancient.

Sarah UGIBARI Ujawé soru’e (jö’o sor’e ohu’o taigu taigu’e) ohu’o mokoj’e an’e - Men’s ceremonial initiation tattoos (uncurling fern fronds and pattern of a leaf) and beaks of the parrot Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 105 x 81cm 14-112

This work is composed purely of ujawé soru’e (tattoo designs) that adorned the body of Sarah Ugibari’s late husband (an initiated Ömie man from Gora village). The zigzag design is known as taigu taigu’e, the leaf pattern design, and their curled ends are known as jö’o sor’e, the design of the uncurling fern frond.

The Ujawé initiation rites were a very important part of Ömie culture and society in order for boys to become men and girls to become women. Boys and girls underwent a period of seclusion, living in underground chambers known as guai, where, after some time, the boys and girls would undergo tattooing with tribal and clan specific tattoos.

The guai was a deep, rectangular dugout hole in the ground where young adult boys and girls would live until sexual maturation. The holes were covered with split, black palm roofs and covered with dirt so no one would know they were in there. There were small doors where parents could pass their children food so they would grow well.

Inside, the hole was separated into individual living compartments with enough room for the young adults to still be able to walk around. Boys and girls were forbidden from touching each other while in the guai, otherwise their bodies would not grow and they would become thin. When boys and girls who lived inside the guai reached sexual maturity and became men and women, elders would go inside the guai to tattoo them for their Ujawé initiation. Men’s bodies would often be tattooed with designs such as: vinohu’e (design of the bellybutton); taigu taigu’e; mododai diburi’e; sabu deje/sabu ahe (spots of the wood-boring grub); obohutaigue; and odunaigö’e (jungle vine). Women’s faces would often be tattooed with: jo’o sor’e (uncurling fern fronds); and taigu taigu’e.

Sarah UGIBARI Obohutaigu’e - Ancestors Tattoo Design Of The Chin (Tree Bark Pattern) Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 101 x 59cm 15-038

This work is composed purely of ujawé soru’e (tattoo designs) that adorned the body of Sarah Ugibari’s late husband, a man from Gora village. This tattoo design is taken from the chin and is believed to represent the pattern of tree bark seen on the trunk of a tree in the time of the Ancestors. This is the only example Sarah painted of this particular design during her time painting for Ömie Artists (2009 – 2015). Jö’o sor’e, the design of the uncurling fern frond, can also be seen.

The Ujawé initiation rites were a very important part of Ömie culture and society in order for boys to become men and girls to become women. Boys and girls underwent a period of seclusion, living in underground chambers known as guai, where, after some time, the boys and girls would undergo tattooing with tribal and clan specific tattoos.

The guai was a deep, rectangular dugout hole in the ground where young adult boys and girls would live until sexual maturation. The holes were covered with split, black palm roofs and covered with dirt so no one would know they were in there. There were small doors where parents could pass their children food so they would grow well.

Inside, the hole was separated into individual living compartments with enough room for the young adults to still be able to walk around. Boys and girls were forbidden from touching each other while in the guai, otherwise their bodies would not grow and they would become thin. When boys and girls who lived inside the guai reached sexual maturity and became men and women, elders would go inside the guai to tattoo them for their Ujawé initiation. Men’s bodies would often be tattooed with designs such as: vinohu’e (design of the bellybutton); taigu taigu’e; mododai diburi’e; sabu deje/sabu ahe (spots of the wood-boring grub); obohutaigue; and odunaigö’e (jungle vine). Women’s faces would often be tattooed with: jo’o sor’e (uncurling fern fronds); and taigu taigu’e.

Martha-Jean UHAMO (DOGARINE) Birth Date Place of Birth

Language Skin/Clan

1968 Këro Village (Gora), Oro Province, Papua New Guinea Ömie Sidorajé

Martha-Jean has been painting for Ömie Artists since 2010. Her mother was Martha Ruruvé of Gorabuna village (Sahuoté clan - Beriirajé/Samwé sub-clan) and her father was Clement Towora of Enjoro village (Ina’e clan). As a girl Martha-Jean would sit and watch her mother painting her barkcloths and has inherited her beautiful designs.

When she married her husband Alfius, she also learnt designs from her mother-in-law Gununu Uhamo, who was a Misajé clanwoman. Martha has one daughter and one grandchild.

Collections University of Queensland Anthropology Museum, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Collection of Marta Rohatynskyj Private Collections

Selected Group Exhibitions 2016

2015

The Sacred Mountain, Illuminated: Ömie Barkcloth Art of Papua New Guinea, Aboriginal Signature - Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium.

Mionomehi Oriseegé (Ancestral Paths), Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia.

Hijominöe Modéjadé (Guided by Ancestors): Ömie Artists 10th Anniversary Exhibition, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

An Exploration of Bark (in association with Ömie Artists and Maningrida Arts & Culture), Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia.

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.

Luminous Mountain, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Ömie Artists: Contemporary Tapa Art from Papua New Guinea, ArtKelch,

Freiburg & Stuttgart, Germany.

To Dance in Beauty: Ömie Tapa from New Guinea, Blak Dot Gallery, Melbourne,

VIC, Australia.

2013 Suja’s Daughters, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Painted and Woven in Song: Ömie Barkcloths and Bilums, RAFT Artspace, Alice

Springs, NT, Australia.

Of Spirit and Splendour: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie, ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

2012 Nohi Dahoru’e - Nohi Nioge (Our Mountain - Our Art), The Depot Gallery, Sydney,

NSW, Australia.

Art of the Ömie: Barkcloth Paintings from Papua New Guinea, Harvey Art

Projects, Sun Valley ID, United Stated of America

Nohi niogero aru’aho ma’ene munomehi jajuho (Our barkcloth holds the spirit of

our culture), Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

2011 We hold our mother’s teachings in our hearts and hands, Short St. Gallery,

Broome, WA, Australia.

Martha-Jean UHAMO (DOGARINE) Misai Ohu’o Samwé Han’e - Misajé Clan Emblem Of The River Plant And Leaves Of The Samwé Tree Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 85 x 76cm 15-082

Martha-Jean has painted misai, the Misajé clan emblem of the river plant. When Martha-Jean married her husband, she became a part of his clan and was taught this clan-emblem by her mother-inlaw.

The smaller leaves seen throughout the work are the leaves of the Samwé tree.

Celestine WARINA (KAARU) Birth Date Place of Birth

Language Skin/Clan

circa 1947 Budo village, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea Ömie Sahuoté (Samorajé subclan)

Celestine Warina’s mother was Rebecca Wosilli (Usirri) and her father was Emosi Waruré, both Sahuoté clanspeople from old Budo village which was situated right at the top of Dahore Budo (Mount Budo). Celestine explains how during the time of the eruption of Huvaemo (Mount Lamington) she was a small baby and her mother carried her around in the bilum. Her mother Usirri and her grandmother Awarro were both barkcloth painters. Celestine has inherited the old Sahuoté clan designs and is a highly-skilled artist. She is now teaching her daughters the traditional Sahuoté style of painting.

Collections National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK. Drusilla Modjeska Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia Michelle Picker Collection, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Private Collections

Selected Group Exhibitions 2016

Moonlight, Mountains and Pig Tusks: Painted Wisdom of the Ömie Chiefs, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

The Sacred Mountain, Illuminated: Ömie Barkcloth Art of Papua New Guinea, Aboriginal Signature - Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium.

Parcours des Mondes, Paris (Ömie Artists presented by Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium).

Mionomehi Oriseegé (Ancestral Paths), Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia.

2015 Duvahe Nioge: Barkcloths by the Senior Ömie Artists of Papua New Guinea,

Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Under the Volcano: Art of Ömie from Papua New Guinea, Museum Fünf

Kontinente, Munich, Germany.

2014 Luminous Mountain, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Ömie Artists: Contemporary Tapa Art from Papua New Guinea, ArtKelch,

Freiburg & Stuttgart, Germany.

New Paintings by Ömie Chiefs and Senior Artists, Aboriginal & Pacific Art,

Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Nohi jajwe boromu mai dahoru Huvaimo va’ene (Our Culture is Strong like Our Mountain, Huvaimo), Harvey Art Projects, Sun Valley, ID, USA. 2013 Volcanic Visions: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, USA.

Suja’s Daughters, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Painted and Woven in Song: Ömie Barkcloths and Bilums, RAFT Artspace, Alice

Springs, NT, Australia.

Of Spirit and Splendour: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie, ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

2012 Nohi Dahoru’e - Nohi Noge (Our Mountain - Our Art), The Depot Gallery, Sydney,

NSW, Australia.

Nohi niogero aru’aho ma’ene munomehi jajuho (Our barkcloth holds the spirit of

our culture), RAFT Artspace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Barkcloth Paintings by Ömie Chiefs and Elders, William Mora Galleries,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2011 No si hijomiono’o jabesi sor’e jajivo (We are painting the designs of our

Ancestors), ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

Celestine WARINA (KAARU) Taguré (Siha’e, Udane Une, Sabu’ahe Ohu’o Cobburé Jö’o Si’o Si’o Ve’e) - Old Tree Rotting With New, Small Plants Growing From It (With Fruit Of The Sihe Tree, Eggs Of The Giant Spiny Stick Insect, Spots Of The Wood-Boring Grub And Pattern Of A Snake’s Lip) Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 140 x 63cm 15-076

Celestine has painted traditional Sahuoté clan designs.

The lines that run through the painting are known as orriseegé or ‘pathways’ and provide a compositional framework for the design.

The main design is taguré, representing new, small plants growing out from an old tree which has fallen and its trunk is rotting on the forest floor.

The short lines that run parallel through the orriseegé are udane une, the eggs of the Giant Spiny Stick Insect (Eurycantha calcarata).

The spots within the orriseegé is a design called sabu ahe representing the spots which can be seen on the sides of a wood-boring grub. This grub is sacred to Ömie people as it plays an important part within the creation story of how Huvaimo (Mt. Lamington) came to be volcanic. It is a traditional soru’e (tattoo design) which was most commonly tattooed as a band of spots under each eye. Today it is applied to Ömie people’s faces for dance performances with natural pigments.

The lines that run diagonally edge to edge through the orriseegé are cobburé jö’o si’o si’o ve’e, the pattern of the snake’s mouth.

Jean-Mary WARRIMOU (HUJAMA) Birth Date Place of Birth

Language Skin/Clan

circa 1967 Gora Village, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea Ömie Dahorurajé (Sidorajé)

Jean-Mary’s mother was Lita Numeré of Gorabuna village (Sahuoté clan) and her father was Michael Kokia of Duharenu village (Ematé clan). She is married to Rex Warimmou, a strong jagor’e (law) man for the Dahorurajé clan. Jean-Mary and Rex have seven children. She was originally taught to paint by her sister-in-law Lila Warrimou (Misaso), the Paramount Chief of Ömie women but is now a confident and talented painter in her own right. Jean-Mary is one of the few Ömie artists who paints uehorëro (her own wisdom). Accompanied by her husband, she loves to visit the lands of his ancestors around Mount Ömie, the first mountain, where the mighty Girua River begins and also where the sacred creation site of Mina and Suja, the first man and woman of the world, can be found. She draws much inspiration from her observations of the natural environment such as rocks forming from minerals in volcanic waters and the sensuous curls of fern leaves. The designs she creates are always loaded with a powerful relationship to her culture - to her people’s origins, her beliefs, customs and those of her ancestors. Jean-Mary is now teaching her eldest daughter Alison Hinana to paint barkcloth designs.

Collections Sammlung Alison & Peter W. Klein, Eberdingen-Nussdorf, Germany.

High Commission of Papua New Guinea, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

Private Collections

Selected Group Exhibitions 2016

2015

2014

2013 2012

2011

2010

Moonlight, Mountains and Pig Tusks: Painted Wisdom of the Ömie Chiefs, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Mionomehi Oriseegé (Ancestral Paths), Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia.

Hijominöe Modéjadé (Guided by Ancestors): Ömie Artists 10th Anniversary Exhibition, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

SEAM (Sustain Educate Art Melanesia) Fundraiser, ‘Tusculum’, The Australia.n Institute of Architects, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Luminous Mountain, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

New Paintings by Ömie Chiefs and Senior Artists, Aboriginal & Pacific Art, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Volcanic Visions: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, USA. Nohi Dahoru’e - Nohi Nioge (Our Mountain - Our Art), The Depot Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Art of the Ömie: Barkcloth Paintings from Papua New Guinea, Harvey Art Projects, Sun Valley ID, United Stated of America Nohi niogero aru’aho ma’ene munomehi jajuho (Our barkcloth holds the spirit of our culture), Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Barkcloth Paintings by Ömie Chiefs and Elders, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

We hold our mother’s teachings in our hearts and hands, Short St. Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia.

Rweromo garé niogehu mamabahe ajivé (Come and see the beauty and brightness of our barkcloths), Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

Jean-Mary WARRIMOU (HUJAMA) Vaguré - Fern Leaves Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 87 x 71cm 16-019

Jean-Mary was walking through the highly sacred Ancestral Dahorurajé clanlands around Mount Ömie, which forms part of the greater volcano Huvaimo (Mount Lamington). In this country, she observed a beautiful fern whose leaves grew out from each other with connecting stems. Using uehëro (her own “wisdom”), she was inspired to create this design. Ferns are particularly significant symbolism for Ömie women because once women reach sexual maturity, they are ceremonially initiated into womanhood by being marked with a facial tattoo just by their mouths on the cheek.

The design is called jö’o sor’e and represents an uncurling fern frond. This practice is not simply clan-based but is practiced throughout the entire Ömie tribe. Jean-Mary’s vaguré design has strong aesthetic similarities with the ancient jö’o sor’e. The bristle design is highly reminiscent of fern designs seen in the work of Dahorurajé clan Chief Fate Savari (Isawdi), and also Ematé clan elder Mala Nari (Matosi). The bands that run through the work are known as orriseegé (pathways/paths) and provide a compositional framework for the design.

Lila WARRIMOU (MISASO) Birth Date Place of Birth

Language Skin/Clan

circa 1944 Savodobehi Village, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea Ömie Dahorurajé (Sidorajé)

Lila has been painting for Ömie Artists since its establishment in 2004. As the Paramount Chief of Ömie women, her Dahorurajé clan knowledge and uehore (wisdom) is extraordinary. She was a young girl when the volcano Huvaimo erupted and recalls being very scared when her old village Sidonejo, which was situated close to the sacred Mount Obo, was surrounded by lava. She remembers her parents keeping her and her siblings safely together, and she was carried by one of her mothers, Guamo, away from the volcano to higher ground. Her birth mother was Eronay Atai and her father was Chief Warrimou Moiwa, both Dahorurajé clanspeople.

She was formerly married to Fabian Jerrirumu to whom she had four children but after he passed away she remarried Nathan Gama, Duvahe (Chief) of Ematé clan men.

Lila’s aunt Joyce-Bella Mujorumo, former duvahe of Dahorurajé clan women, taught her to paint many important Ömie designs and clan symbols and also taught her about the origins of Ömie art, culture and history. In turn, Lila has taught a number of Ömie women to paint including her sister-in-law Jean-Mary Warrimou (Hujama).

Collections National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK. High Commission of Papua New Guinea, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

The Gordon & Helen Heslop Collection Private Collections

Selected Group Exhibitions 2017 PNG, It’s Dynamite, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Stories Are Forever, presented by Vivien Anderson Gallery at Merricks House

Gallery, Mornington Peninsula, VIC, Australia.

2016 Moonlight, Mountains and Pig Tusks: Painted Wisdom of the Ömie Chiefs, Vivien

Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

The Sacred Mountain, Illuminated: Ömie Barkcloth Art of Papua New Guinea,

Aboriginal Signature - Estrangin Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium.

Mionomehi Oriseegé (Ancestral Paths), Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia.

Art of the Pacific, National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) International, Melbourne,

VIC, Australia.

2015 Hijominöe Modéjadé (Guided by Ancestors): Ömie Artists 10th Anniversary

Exhibition, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Duvahe Nioge: Barkcloths by the Senior Ömie Artists of Papua New Guinea, Vivien

Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

An Exploration of Bark (in association with Ömie Artists and Maningrida Arts &

Culture), Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Under the Volcano: Art of Ömie from Papua New Guinea, Museum Fünf

Kontinente, Munich, Germany.

2014 Ömie Artists: Contemporary Tapa Art from Papua New Guinea, ArtKelch,

Freiburg & Stuttgart, Germany.

New Paintings by Ömie Chiefs and Senior Artists, Aboriginal & Pacific Art,

Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Nohi jajwe boromu mai dahoru Huvaimo va’ene (Our Culture is Strong like Our Mountain, Huvaimo), Harvey Art Projects, Sun Valley, ID, USA. 2013 Volcanic Visions: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, USA.

Suja’s Daughters, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Tapa: Barkcloth Paintings from the Pacific, IKON Gallery, Birmingham UK.

Painted and Woven in Song: Ömie Barkcloths and Bilums, RAFT Artspace, Alice

Springs, NT, Australia.

Of Spirit and Splendour: Barkcloth Art of the Ömie, ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

2012 Art of the Ömie: Barkcloth Paintings from Papua New Guinea, Harvey Art

Projects, Sun Valley ID, United Stated of America

Second Skins: Painted Barkcloth from New Guinea and Central Africa, Fowler

Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Nohi niogero aru’aho ma’ene munomehi jajuho (Our barkcloth holds the spirit of

our culture), Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

2012 Barkcloth Paintings by Ömie Chiefs and Elders, William Mora Galleries,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2011 No si hijomiono’o jabesi sor’e jajivo (We are painting the designs of our

Ancestors), ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

2010 Rweromo garé niogehu mamabahe ajivé (Come and see the beauty and brightness

of our barkcloths), Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

17th Biennale of Sydney: The Beauty of Distance - Songs of Survival in a

Precarious Age, Museum of Contemporary Art, Syndey, NSW, Australia.

The Art of Ömie, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2009 Wisdom of the Mountain: Art of the Ömie, National Gallery of Victoria (NGV)

International, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Ömie: Barkcloths from New Guinea, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

2007 In the Shadow of a Volcano: The Barkcloth Art of the Ömie, Holmes à Court

Gallery, Perth, WA, Australia.

Cloth That Grows on Trees, Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto, Canada 2006 Ömie: The Barkcloth Art of Ömie, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Lila WARRIMOU (MISASO) Avinö’e, siha’e ohu’o sabu deje - Design of the Moon, fruit of the Sihe tree and spots of the wood-boring grub Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 123 x 90cm 09-001

Lila has painted an important design for the Dahorurajé clan, avino’e, the design of the Moon. Lila explains that she was taught this design by her auntie, Joyce-Bella Mujorumo, former Duvahe (Chief) of Dahorurajé clan women. This special design can be traced back to Udu’a, Lokirro’s wife. Udu’a then taught Joyce-Bella Mujorumo. The story associated with the moon diesign can be read below.

The borders around the edges of the nioge are known as orriseegé or ‘pathways’, providing a compositional framework for the main designs.

Within the orriseegé border is the diamond design siha’e, representing the fruit of the Sihe tree. Sihe is a yellow fruit found in the rainforest and often eaten by cassowaries.

In the time of the Ancestors, during times of tribal warfare, the Ömie male warriors had no food while they were defending their borders in the forest far from their villages so they survived by chewing the Sihe fruit, swallowing the juice and then they would spit out the pulp. The siha’e design is sometimes also called vinohu’e, the men’s tattoo design of the bellybutton. The diamond shape was tattooed around men’s navals during the Ujawé initiation rite.

The spots within the concentric circles of the moon design are known as sabu deje representing the spots that can be seen on the sides of a wood-boring grub. This grub is sacred to Ömie people as it plays an important part within the creation story of how Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) came to be volcanic. It is also a traditional sor’e (tattoo design) which was most commonly tattooed running in one line under both eyes. Today it is applied to Ömie people’s faces for dance performances with natural pigments.

Story: THE OLD WOMAN WHO HUNG THE SUN AND MOON FROM THE TREE [1] A long time ago there lived an old woman who had a large bilum [2] (woven string-bag).

She carried the Sun, Moon and stars inside her bilum. She would pull the Sun out from her bilum and hang it high in the branch of a tree to bring the daylight. She would clear the bush from around the tree and the tree fork, keeping the area very clean. At the end of the day she would get the Sun and put it back inside her bilum. She would then take the Moon out from her bilum and hang it on the same tree branch, bringing the night.

She took all the stars out from her bilum and spread them across the sky.

One day a man saw the Sun. He started watching the Sun closely. As the Sun was rising, he followed it. He saw the old woman hanging the Sun and Moon and then hiding them inside her bilum. He said to himself, “Oh, that is what the old woman has been doing which brings the light and the darkness!”

The man went home to his village and told the story to all the people. He explained to them how the old woman was looking after the Sun, Moon and stars and how that was her work. Everyone in the village had thought she was working in her food garden each day, but really she was clearing the bush to make space for the Sun and Moon to be seen clearly and to shine brightly in the sky. © Lila Warrimou & Rex Warrimou (Sabïo); orally translated by Alban Sare; transcribed by Brennan King at Savodobehi village, 2010.

[2] In Ömie language, a large bilum is called a bojoy.

[1]

Lila WARRIMOU (MISASO) Avinö’e, Mahuva’oje, Siha’e Ohu’o Sabu Deje - Design Of The Moon, Pig Hoof-Prints, Fruit Of The Sihe Tree And Spots Of The Wood-Boring Grub Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 77 x 94cm 16-013

Lila has painted an important design for the Dahorurajé clan, avino’e, the design of the moon.

Lila explains that she was taught this design by her auntie, Joyce-Bella Mujorumo, former Duvahe (Chief) of Dahorurajé clan women. This special design can be traced back to Udu’a, Lokirro’s wife. Udu’a then taught Joyce-Bella Mujorumo.

The frames of black triangles and zig-zagging triangles are mahuva’oje, the hoofprints of a mischievous pig that has wreaked havoc on a garden.

The border and the lines that run through the work are known as orriseegé or ‘pathways’ and provide a compositional framework for the design.

The diamond design represents the fruit of the Sihe tree. Sihe is a yellow fruit found in the rainforest and often eaten by cassowaries. In the time of the Ancestors, during times of tribal warfare, the Ömie male warriors had no food while they were defending their borders in the forest far from their villages so they survived by chewing the Sihe fruit, swallowing the juice and then they would spit out the pulp. The siha’e design is sometimes also called vinohu’e, the men’s tattoo design of the bellybutton. The diamond

shape was tattooed around men’s navals during the Ujawé initiation rite.

The spots within the orriseegé and the moon design is a design known as sabu deje, representing the spots which can be seen on the sides of a wood-boring grub. This grub is sacred to Ömie people as it plays an important part within the creation story of how Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) came to be volcanic. It is a traditional sor’e (tattoo design) which was most commonly tattooed running in one line under both eyes. Today it is applied to Ömie people’s faces for dance performances with natural pigments.

Story: THE OLD WOMAN WHO HUNG THE SUN AND MOON FROM THE TREE [1] A long time ago there lived an old woman who had a large bilum [2] (woven string-bag).

She carried the Sun, Moon and stars inside her bilum. She would pull the Sun out from her bilum and hang it high in the branch of a tree to bring the daylight. She would clear the bush from around the tree and the tree fork, keeping the area very clean. At the end of the day she would get the Sun and put it back inside her bilum. She would then take the Moon out from her bilum and hang it on the same tree branch, bringing the night.

She took all the stars out from her bilum and spread them across the sky.

One day a man saw the Sun. He started watching the Sun closely. As the Sun was rising, he followed it. He saw the old woman hanging the Sun and Moon and then hiding them inside her bilum. He said to himself, “Oh, that is what the old woman has been doing which brings the light and the darkness!”

The man went home to his village and told the story to all the people. He explained to them how the old woman was looking after the Sun, Moon and stars and how that was her work. Everyone in the village had thought she was working in her food garden each day, but really she was clearing the bush to make space for the Sun and Moon to be seen clearly and to shine brightly in the sky. © Lila Warrimou & Rex Warrimou (Sabïo); orally translated by Alban Sare; transcribed by Brennan King at Savodobehi village, 2010.

[2] In Ömie language, a large bilum is called a bojoy.

[1]

Lila WARRIMOU (MISASO) Viojoje Dehe, Ije Ridimë’e, Vinohu’e (Siha’u’e), Vison’e Ohu’o Sabu Ahe - Wings Of The Butterfly, Jungle Ladder, Tattoo Design Of The Bellybutton (Fruit Of The Sihe Tree), EelBone Jewellery For Initiation Nasal Septum Piercings And Spots Of The Wood-Boring Grub Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 96 x 67cm 16-014

Lila has painted a very rare painting design. These traditional designs were taught to her by one of her ‘mothers’ (her aunt), Joyce-Bella Mujorumo, former Duvahe (Chief) of Dahorurajé clan women.

The border and the irregular square frames are known as orriseegé or ‘pathways’ and provide a compositional framework for the designs. The conjoined concentric circles are viojoje dehe, the wings of the butterfly. The stem/leaf-like designs are ije ridimë’e, the customary jungle ladder which is used to climb tall trees to collect fruit and set traps for hunting birds. This jungle ladder is mentioned several times throughout the Ömie creation stories.

The vertical lines of diamonds are the men’s tattoo design of the bellybutton, vinohu’e, representing siha’u’e, the fruit of the sihe tree. Lila explains how in the time of the ancestors during times of tribal warfare, the Ömie male warriors had no food while they were defending their borders in the forest far from their villages so they survived by chewing the sihe fruit, swallowing the juice and then they would spit out the pulp.

The sawtooth lines of triangles represent vison’e, jewellery for the nasal septum made from a small eel bone in the time of the Ancestors. In more recent times the vison’e is fashioned from the chest-bone of a tubor’e (Dwarf Cassowary). This piercing was a very important part of the Ömie initiation rite for boys and girls known as the ujawé. The ujawé initiation rites of piercing and tattooing were performed in underground chambers known as guai.

The black triangles within the orriseegé frames are mahuva’oje, the hoofprints of a mischievous pig that has wreaked havoc on a garden.

Lila WARRIMOU (MISASO) Odunaigë, Mahuva’oje Ohu’o Sabu Deje - Jungle Vines, Pig’s Hoofprints And Spots Of The Wood-Boring Grub Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 96 x 67cm 15-005

The arcs designs are hartu’e, the design of the ceremonial shell necklace. Hartu’e have mouthpieces behind the shell which dancers bite to display in their mouths during ceremonial dance performances. Ömie people obtained the shells from coastal tribes of Oro Province by means of trade and they also collected them from the beach. Most hartu’e and other shell necklaces that can still be found in the Ömie mountains were originally traded by the owners parents or grandparents a long time ago. Sometimes the ‘shell’ can be fashioned from a cassowary breastbone to replicate the shell.

Lila has traced the edges of the hart’e arcs with radiating lines, working inwardly as the cadences themselves become an important part of the visual effect of the work.

This is a customary technique, rarely seen, that Lila was taught as a young girl and has mastered. The lines that run through the work, forming squares, are known as orriseegé (paths/pathways) and provide a compositional framework for the design.

The orriseegé is infilled with sabu deje, a design representing the spots which can be seen on the sides of a wood-boring grub. This grub is sacred to Ömie people as it plays an important part within the creation story of how Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) came to be volcanic. It is a traditional sor’e (tattoo design) which was most commonly tattooed running in one line under both eyes. Today it is applied to Ömie people’s faces with natural pigments for dance performances. The small black triangles within each frame are mahuva’oje, the hoof-prints of a mischievous pig that has wreaked havoc on a garden. The mahuva’oje design is also painted by Fate Savari, so it appears to be a particularly strong design amongst elders of the Dahoruraje clan.

Lila WARRIMOU (MISASO) Gojavö Hanö’e, Mahuva’oje Ohu’o Sabu Deje - Feathers Of The Black And Red Parrot, Pig Hoof-Prints And Spots Of The Wood-Boring Grub Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth) 73 x 54cm 15-075

Lila has painted traditional designs taught to her by her aunt, Joyce-Bella Mujorumo, former Duvahe (Chief) of Dahorurajé clan women. The border and the lines that run through the work are known as orriseegé or ‘pathways’ and provide a compositional framework for the design.

The main design – the bird-footprint like symbols within the eight frames – are gojavö hanö’e, the tailfeathers of the red and black parrot used in men’s feather headdresses.

The black triangles within and surrounding the orriseegé frames are mahuva’oje, the hoofprints of a mischievous pig that has wreaked havoc on a garden. The spots within the orriseegé is a design called sabu deje, representing the spots which can be seen on the sides of a wood-boring grub. This grub is sacred to Ömie people as it plays an important part within the creation story of how Huvaemo (Mt. Lamington) came to be volcanic. It is a traditional soru’e (tattoo design) which was most commonly tattooed as a band of spots under each eye. Today it is applied to Ömie people’s faces for dance performances with natural pigments.

The Process of Preparing Nioge (Barkcloth)

Are (Yellow Pigment)

Omie Jungle

Birire (Red Pigment)

Celestine Warina At Birrojo Village, October 2010

Artists Harvesting Bark From The Forest

Source: Š Drusilla Modjeska and Brennan King, photos courtesy of Ömie Artists Inc.

Artists Making Birire (Red Pigment)

The Omie’s Sacred Volcano, Huvaimo Source: © Brennan King, photo courtesy of Ömie Artists Inc.

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