Where Clouds are Spirit Parrots: Art of the Ömie Women

4 July - 23 August 2020

Aspasia Gadai • Elizabeth Guho Pauline-Rose Hago • Dapeni Jonevari • Brenda Kesi Botha Kimmikimmi • Mala Nari • Barbara Rauno Fate Savari • Ivy-Rose Sirimi • Pennyrose Sosa Sarah Ugibari • Celestine Warina Jean-Mary Warrimou • Lila Warrimou Presented by Delmar Gallery, Trinity Grammar School in association with Ömie Artists Inc

Artist unknown Soviet Architectural Rendering 1939 gouache on paper 10 x 30.5cm

Erich Buchholz (1891 - 1972) Composition 1921/71 screenprint, published by Panderma Editions - Carl Laszlo, Basel ed. 23/75 32 x 36cm

The Ă–mie village of Savodobehi, near the sacred Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) and Mount Obo

WHERE CLOUDS ARE SPIRIT PARROTS Art of the Ömie Women “The Spirits of my Ancestors communicate with me directly.

They encourage me to paint barkcloth and to encourage the other women to paint, to keep the old designs alive so that our culture remains strong. Our Ancestors are taking very good care of us!”1 ~ Mala Nari (Matosi), Savodobehi village, 2010

The Ömie live in remote mountain villages surrounding the sacred volcano Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) in the interior of Oro Province, in southeastern Papua New Guinea. This exhibition celebrates the extraordinary artistic talents of the Duvahe (Chiefs), elders and leading artists through their exquisite barkcloth paintings. Adorned with finely executed motifs, visually arresting geometries and loaded with tribal and clan-specific cultural knowledge, the works in this exhibition give us a rare glimpse into the mystical and mysterious world of the Ömie.

by men, women and children during traditional ceremonies which can involve feasting and spectacular performances of singing, dancing and kundudrumming. Barkcloth also serves important purposes in marriage as bride price gifts, as well as in funerary and initiation ceremonies. It is an integral part of everyday life for the Ömie and plays a critical role in defining their unique cultural identity.

These paintings on barkcloth, also widely known as tapa, are the customary textile of the Ömie people.

Women wear nioge (skirts) while men wear givai (loincloths). Ömie barkcloths are still worn today

Before viewers look at the barkcloth paintings on exhibition, I invite everyone to learn one Ömie word. It is one of the most beautiful words I know, in any language. The word is buriétö’e—pronounced boo-ree-eh-toh-eh. It is a very old Ömie word that comes from the time of the Ancestors. It is used to describe the phenomena that occurs when people look upon someone as they dance in their barkcloth skirts and loincloths—it is the very moment when the barkcloth designs change and come alive with beauty2. The barkcloth designs combined with the dance movement create an optical, dazzling effect that activates this sensational experience of buriétö’e.

The lines, known as oriseeg’e or ‘pathways’, that can be seen running through most Ömie art, simultaneously

1. Translated from Ömie to English by Alban Sare and transcribed

by Brennan King late one evening while sitting around the fire at Savodobehi Art Centre, September 2010.

2. As explained by the late Sahuoté clan law man, Albert Sirimi (Nanati). Translated by Raphael Bujava and transcribed by Brennan King at Birrojo village.

create a framework and serve to further activate the designs—greatly contributing to this transformational moment of buriétö’e. Ömie barkcloth art was completely unknown to the outside world until it was first exhibited in Sydney in 2006 and has quickly become one of the most exciting contemporary art movements in the Pacific region.

Professor Nicholas Thomas, Director of Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, UK wrote, “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” Thomas speaks of, predominantly through the paintings of senior artists but also through emerging talents such as Ivy-Rose Sirimi, who continues the great legacy of her mother, and master painter, Filma Rumuno.

Women prepare the barkcloth by harvesting the inner layer of bark from rainforest trees which they rinse and then fold and pound repetitiously on flat stones using black palm mallets until a strong, fibrous sheet of cloth is produced. The cloth is then left to dry in the sun. A rich and earthy palette of natural bush dyes including red, yellow, green and black pigments are created from fruits, ferns, leaves and charcoal. Ancient clan designs are painted in freehand onto the cloth or the cloth is dyed in river mud and the designs are appliquéd. Common painting implements include strong grasses, fashioned wooden sticks and brushes made from frayed betelnut husks.

Each painting is saturated in an organic, abstract symbolism that could only have sprung from a people intimately in tune to the natural environment where they live—a landscape criss-crossed with sites of great spiritual significance and inhabited by the spirits of Ancestors. The volcanic mountain, Huvaimo, is the beating heart of Ömie culture. The Ömie creation story tells of how the first man and woman, Mina and Suja, were created there and the spirits of the Ömie’s Ancestors reside there. It is the place where Ömie women’s barkcloth painting originates—where the first Ömie woman Suja beat the first barkcloth at the river Uhojo. It is a powerful place that is both

honoured and feared by the Ömie. In times of storms and floods the Ömie turn to Huvaimo to appeal to their Ancestors to quell the punishing weather.

There is strict jagor’e (customary Ömie law) that must be followed when approaching the mountain and entering its land. To this day, this sacred country is closely watched over and protected by the Ömie.

Artists inherit clan designs as young women by birthright or marriage from their mothers, grandmothers and mother-in-laws, and in some instances from their fathers and husbands. Most designs are generations old but some elderly artists who have attained a level of mastery, usually Chiefs, are free to paint their uehorëro (wisdom), creating new designs. The Ömie’s female Chief system is primarily based upon a woman’s barkcloth painting talents and the cultural knowledge she attains over a lifetime. All painting designs originate or are derived from traditional Ömie culture and the natural environment, maintaining and communicating artists’ deep connection to their Ancestors and country. Ömie territory’s lush rainforests, wild rivers, fauna, elemental phenomena and sacred creation sites such as the volcano Huvaimo and Mount Obo provide a plethora of subjects from which artists continue to draw inspiration for their painting designs. Certain

designs serve the important purpose of upholding jagor’e, customary Ömie law, passing on essential knowledge such as taboos and educating the next generation about how to protect and preserve sacred sites.

The story of the survival of Ömie barkcloth painting to the present day is entirely unique. In 1951 the volcano, Huvaimo, erupted which correlated with the coming of the first missionaries who banned the ancient initiation rite known as the ujawé that involved tattooing clan insignia (sor’e) onto the skin. The Dahorurajé clan Chiefs Warrimou and Nogi believed the eruption was a warning from their Ancestors’ spirits that reside on Huvaimo—a warning that the old ways were being lost and that they must turn away from the outsiders and hold onto their traditional culture. In order to appease the Ancestors, the Chiefs spread the word throughout the tribe, encouraging the women to continue painting their customary barkcloth designs and also to paint both men and women’s tattoo designs onto the barkcloth. And so triumphantly, the Ömie have managed to preserve their sacred barkcloth artmaking tradition, as well as the ancient tattoo designs.

This very special exhibition draws together a diverse range of painting styles—from the finely worked painting by the Paramount Chief Lila Warrimou, to the energetic paintings of Dapeni Jonevari and Botha Kimmikimmi, to the soft, restful paintings of Celestine Warina. Other highlights of the exhibition include the delicate filigree meanderings by the foremost exponent of men’s tattoo designs, PaulineRose Hago… and the arresting, almost minimalist sihoti’e paintings (mud-dyed barkcloth) created by the only two surviving Ömie women elders, Sarah Ugibari and Brenda Kesi. Sarah and Brenda learnt this ancient appliqué sewing technique using batwing bone needles and thread made of river reeds.

These paintings, of great cultural integrity, stand as a testament to the strength and endurance of Ömie art, where we see in full strength the continuity and ingenuity of the Ömie’s ancient yet living artistic tradition of barkcloth painting.

In order to further open up the Ömie women’s paintings for viewers, I would like to leave everyone with a sacred and very special story in hope that it may further assist people in connecting even more deeply with the inner spiritual and cultural meanings of the artworks. This is the very first time that this ancestral

story has been shared outside of Ömie culture3. It has been passed down from the Sahuoté clan Ancestors who lived in an old village known as A’bi, which was situated right at the very top of a high mountain behind present day Birrojo village. I believe this story gives rare insight into the connection between the artists’ complex designs and place—enhancing our understanding of the environment from which it springs, and going some way in taking us beyond what can be seen in the works, into the unseen. We must keep in mind that for the Ömie these designs are emotive, they are loaded with feelings and memories that strongly connect them to their land, origins, Ancestors, histories, each other, but also—to the nonphysical/‘spirit’ world, which is intertwined and inseparable from the natural world.

3. With permission from Sahuoté clan leaders, Willington Uruhé, Albert Sirimi and the Bujava family.

The Story of the Children who turned into Spirit Parrots4 There were two young Ömie people, a boy named Makojo and a girl named Umahe, living high on the mountain in A’bi village. They were brother and sister, but their parents had passed away. The children stayed living in the house where their parents died.

The other people of A’bi village would hold many feasts but they never thought to share their food with Makojo and Umahe. The children got very upset because they were hungry but had no one they could ask for cooked pig and other foods. No one visited them to share the food. So Makojo told Umahe that in the morning she had to cook some food for them to eat, then they would go to collect some leafy greens known as tulif from the vadahe5 trees on their father’s land on Mount Amu’i.

The brother and sister followed the mountain track on Mount Amu’i and found plenty of leafy greens. They collected what they found and continued climbing the mountain searching for more. They saw one very large 4. As told by Sahuoté clan elder Albert Sirimi (Nanati) at Birrojo village art centre, August-October, 2010. Translated by Raphael Bujava and transcribed by Brennan King.

5. Ömie people refer to tulif leaves of the vadahe tree simply as ‘cabbage’ (even though it is found in trees). For the purposes of clarity in the story, I have referred to the cabbage as ‘leafy greens’.

vadahe tree growing very tall on the mountain with abundant, leafy greens. Makojo told his sister Umahe to stay at the base of the tree while he climbed it to collect the fresh young leaves.

Makojo climbed the tree and began to collect the new growth. When a bundle of fresh tulif leaves was big enough, he would break off a big leaf and wrap it around the bundle and then drop it down to his sister. He climbed right up to the very top of the tree collecting the leaves. As he was trying to break one particular branch, he was having great difficulty. So Makojo tried to bite the branch off with his teeth so he could then break it off from the tough outer bark-skin of the tree. But the bark-skin of the branch became caught in his teeth as he was trying to bite it off. He was struggling to get the bark-skin out of his teeth but was finding it very difficult.

All the while, his sister Umahe was waiting patiently at the base of the tree but her brother had stopped throwing down the bundles of leaves to her. She thought something must have happened to her brother. She continued to wait and wait, but in the meantime Makojo had died. When he died he passed urine on a tulif leaf. Umahe heard the sound of the droplets on the leaf and then saw the droplets fall next to her. She thought he was just going to the toilet so

Ömie Artists at Godibehi (from left to right): Lillian Garobi, Sarah Ugibari, Jean-Margaret Hö’ijo, Celestine Warina, Jean-Mary Warrimou, Pauline-Rose Hago, Lila Warrimou, Stella Üpia, Dapeni Jonevari, Mala Nari, Botha Kimmikimmi, Brenda Kesi. Elizabeth Guho, Flora Oviro.

she waited… and waited… for the bundles of leaves to be thrown down.

Male parrots gather inside Go inside.”

It grew dark and began to rain lightly. Then dark clouds came and covered them and there were big storms. Umahe heard a male parrot (also known as makojo6) calling and shouting and crying—coming in the cloud right where the tulif tree stood and where her brother Makojo had died in the top of the tree.

Thick clouds covered the top of the tree and all Umahe could hear were the male makojo parrots calling. The makojo parrots all gathered together and picked the boy Makojo up and took him flying in the dark cloud up on top of Mount Amu’i. Umahe saw the birds flying away in the dark cloud. She looked up into the tulif tree but she couldn’t see her brother up in the tree even though the dark cloud had disappeared. Umahe started to cry for her brother, and she sang:

After Umahe had sung the song, she returned home to her house at Ab’i village. She was feeling very, very upset so she went into the house and then saw the feathers of the female parrot, umahe, hanging from a rope from the roof inside the house. Her brother Makojo had hunted the female umahe parrots just before he died.

“Uhoreh va’e Umahe hoje uhore va’e Makojo hoje Uhoreh va’e.”

“Go inside Female parrots gather inside 6. The male parrot is called a makojo or mokojai, while the female parrot of the same species is called umahe or umahé.

The young girl Umahe, took the female parrot feathers and wore them like a cloak over the front and back of her body. And then… Umahe turned into a red parrot and she started to fly! She flew out from the house, and then from roof to roof on all the village houses of A’bi and when she came to the end of the village, she flew away and off to her join her brother at the top of Mount Amu’i.

Even today, when a person from the Sahuoté clan passes away, their loved ones mourn for them and sing the very same song Umahe sung when her brother Makojo died in the top of the vadahe tree. ~ Brennan King, July 20207

7. © Brennan King and Ömie Artists Inc. 2020

EXHIBITED WORKS

SARAH UGIBARI Maijaro ie ho’oje – Morning rays of the sun shining down on the forest 2016 sihoti’e taliobamë’e appliquéd mud-dyed nioge (barkcloth), 74.5 x 52.5cm Private collection, Sydney

CELESTINE WARINA (KAARU) Mododai diburi’e (udane une, sabu’ahe, sigobu sine ohu’o cobburé jö’o si’o si’o ve’e) – Tail-feathers of the swift in flight (with eggs of the Giant Spiny Stick Insect, spots of the wood-boring grub, skin pattern of the immature green tree python, and pattern of a snake’s lip) 2017 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 125 x 83cm Private collection, Sydney

JEAN-MARY WARRIMOU (HUJAMA) Vaguré – Fern leaves 2016 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 87 x 71cm Private collection, Sydney

ASPASIA GADAI (YÉWO) Dahoru’e ohu’o buborianö’e – Ömie mountains and beaks of the Papuan Hornbill 2013 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 134 x 68cm Private collection, Sydney

BOTHA KIMMIKIMMI (HIROKIKI) Dahoru’e, tuböre une, buboriano’e, ohu’o sabu ahe – Ömie mountains, eggs of the Dwarf Cassowary, beaks of Blyth’s Hornbill and spots of the wood-boring grub 2012 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 113 x 93cm

MALA NARI (MATOSI) Tuböre une – Eggs of the dwarf cassowary 2011 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 117 x 90cm Private collection, Sydney

IVY-ROSE SIRIMI Mairi’e jeje ijo’oho, dahoru’e ohu’o buborianö’e – The forbidden tree of Lawe’s Parotia, Ömie mountains and beaks of the Papuan Hornbill 2014 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 112 x 100cm

BRENDA KESI (ARIRE) Taliobame’e ohu’o mododa’e – Ancestral design of the mud and the swift in flight 2011 sihoti’e taliobamë’e appliquéd mud-dyed nioge (barkcloth), 94 x 57cm Collection of the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum

BARBARA RAUNO (INASU) Siha’e, nuni’e ohu’o sigaru anö’e – Fruit of the Sihe tree, design of the eye and teeth of the beetle 2011 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 120 x 76cm

BRENDA KESI (ARIRE) Wo’ohohe – Ground-burrowing spider 2013 sihoti’e taliobamë’e appliquéd mud-dyed nioge (barkcloth), 98.5 x 60.5cm

PENNYROSE SOSA Hartu’e – Customary shell necklace 2016 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 95 x 79.5cm Private collection, Sydney

SARAH UGIBARI Mododa’e diburi’e biojë’oho – Tail-feathers of the swift when sitting in the tree 2016 sihoti’e taliobamë’e appliquéd mud-dyed nioge (barkcloth), 83 x 61.5cm Private collection

PAULINE-ROSE HAGO (DERAMI) Amurelavahe’e (Ujawé sin’e sor’e: siha’e/vinohu’e, taigu taigu’e, jö’o sor’e ohu’o sabu deje) – Ancestral face paint design for dancing (with initiation rite body designs: fruit of the Sihe tree/design of the bellybutton, tattoo design, pattern of a leaf and uncurling fern fronds and spots of the wood-boring grub) 2017 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 104 x 52cm

PENNYROSE SOSA Avino’e – The moon 2015 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 124.5 x 71cm Private collection, Sydney

LILA WARRIMOU (MISASO) Viojoje dehe, vinohu’e (siha’u’e), vison’e ohu’o sabu ahe – Wings of the butterfly, tattoo design of the bellybutton (fruit of the Sihe tree), eel-bone jewelry for initiation nasal septum piercings, and spots of the wood-boring grub 2012 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 118 x 82.5cm

ELIZABETH GUHO (OWKEJA) Vinohu’e - Ujawé – Initiation tattoo design of the bellybutton 2014 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 95 x 69cm

FATE SAVARI (ISAWDI) Vinöhu’e, taigu taigu’e, jö’o sor’e ohu’o gori hane – Tattoo design of the bellybutton, pattern of a leaf, uncurling fern fronds and Dahorurajé clan design of the fern leaf 2010 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 79 x 57cm

DAPENI JONEVARI (MOKOKARI) Ujaweì 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) 2015 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 137 x 66cm Private collection, Israel

DAPENI JONEVARI (MOKOKARI) Buborianö’e, jové Aho’oji, dahoru’e ohu’o sabu deje – Beaks of the Papuan Hornbill, Aho’oji River, Ömie mountains and spots of the wood-boring grub 2011 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 144 x 99cm

DAPENI JONEVARI (MOKOKARI) Mahudanö’e, dahoru’e ohu’o sabu ahe – Pig’s tusk necklaces, Ömie mountains and spots of the woodboring grub 2011 natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth), 107 x 73cm

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Where Clouds are Spirit Parrots: Art of the Ömie Women 4 July - 23 August, 2020 Presented by Delmar Gallery in association with Ömie Artists Inc.

Ömie Artists Manager: Brennan King Delmar Gallery Trinity Grammar School 144 Victoria Street Ashfield NSW 2131 Sydney - Australia Curator: Catherine Benz Gallery assistant: Christine Smalley Copyright remains with the authors. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited. Exhibition installation photography by Silversalt. Photographs of Ömie territory by Brennan King.

Alex Selenitsch (b. 1946) lines on MATTER 2011 laser prints open edition each 29.7 x 21cm