Jean Niduvé was taught this design by Ematé clan elder Brenda Kesi (Ariré). The design can be traced back four generations (c. 1910) to when “Samwell’s father’s wife was painting it.” Samwell and his son Emmanuel were former Chiefs of Ematé clan men. Emmanuel was the husband of barkcloth artist and Chief of Ematé clan women, Dapeni Jonevari (Mokokari), before he passed away in 2012. This important Ematé clan design called ijögijegije, represents bare tree branches.
The border as well as the lines that run through the painting are known as orriseegé or ‘pathways’ and provide a compositional framework for the designs. The or’e (path) designs are ancient and originate from the time of the Ancestors and relate to the intricate footpaths that run through food gardens and garden plots. Within the outer border is the black-infilled/sawtooth (repeated triangles) design called dahoru’e, Ömie mountains. This design relates to the sacred ancestral geography of Ömie territory. The streaming zigzag within is buboriano’e, 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 spots seen in the painting’s central band are sabu deje, representing the spots found 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. Today it is applied to Ömie people’s faces for dance performances with natural pigments.
Text courtesy Ömie Artists.