PREFACE BY

from Ömie | JGM Gallery London | In association with Ömie Artists

FOREWORD

JULIUS KILLERBY

Nioge (barkcloth) is profoundly sacred to the Ömie of Papua New Guinea. One integral part of their creation story details the first man and woman, Mina and Suja, being clothed in the textile. There is here an interesting connection with Adam and Eve and the wearing of these garments does in some sense symbolise, as it does for the protagonists of Genesis, a transition from innocence. The similarities between the Ömie and societies which, until recently, had not been exposed to their culture, does not stop there. Rather remarkably, there are aesthetic and conceptual similarities between their Art and barkcloth designs from other localities, including the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, Africa and South America, amongst others. Indeed, these may not simply be similarities, but innate ideas that cross-culturally populate the Collective Unconscious.

What does perhaps distinguish the Ömie’s work is its added emphasis on fecundity. Suja, to celebrate her new found fertility, dyed her nioge in red volcanic river mud. The creation of a nioge design, then, is explicitly linked to the creative forces of nature and for the Ömie their construction is a venerated act, equally sublime to the growth of a tree, the crashing of a wave, or the birth of a child. The sihoti’e nioge (mud-dyed barkcloths) on exhibit by artists Brenda Kesi (Ariré), Rosemon Hinana and Patricia Warera (Matomguo) have been dyed in the same way that Suja dyed her barkcloth. Appliquéd using a fine bat-wing bone needle, these pieces, with their contrasting greys and whites, bring the Ömie’s ancestral past into the present. They provide a window through time into the early development of Ömie symbolism, yet with a discernibly contemporary sensibility.

What is remarkable, then, is that these barkcloths are as sacred to the Ömie as the information depicted on them. A Western analogue, though not an exact equivalent, would be the representation of a Biblical narrative on a holy relic. For the Ömie there is thus a parallel between form and content. The medium and the subject are intertwined, imbuing these works with a profound spiritual significance.

Randall Morris, in 2013, wrote of Ömie nioge that “There is a collective genius at work here that allows for iconoclasm and the vision of the individual set into the matrix of the culture itself.” By example, Diona Jonevari’s Se’a hu’e, dahoru’e, bubori anö’e, vë’i ija ahe, odunaigö’e, jö’o sor’e, sabu ahe, vinohu’e ohu’o siha’e is just that; quintessentially “Ömie”, but with a distinctly individual aesthetic cadence. Like many nioge her design is bordered with mountains, a reference to the surroundings in Oro Province, where the Ömie reside. Compositionally, this alpine border emphasizes the centre of the arrangement, as does the red pigment used to paint it. It arrests our attention. The reference to local geographical features also implies that this work will distil something about Ömie culture.

The rest of Jonevari’s nioge is divided into rectangular sections, within which she depicts the beaks of Papuan Hornbills, lizard bones, jungle vine and initiation tattoo designs. Flowing through the composition, and touching each of these symbols, is the red pigment sourced from the skin of the biredihane tree, known to the Ömie as bariré. This colour is a reference, as it was for Suja, to fertility but also, more generally, the fecundity that makes all aspects of Ömie life and culture possible. This is accentuated by the zig-zag lines which suffuse the surface with a sense of interconnectedness and electricity.

Dazzling optical effects such as these are even more overt in the work of the late Albert Sirimi (Nanati), whose nioge are almost hallucinogenic in quality. Sirimi’s work, Ujavu am’e (guai); taigu taigu’e; juburi anö’e; ahéhuruvë’e; nuni’e; ohu’o sabu ahe, shows how the utilitarian and artistic purposes of these barkcloths compliment each other. Brennan King, the Ömie Artists’ Manager, describes a concept once explained to him by Sirimi, called buriéto’e. “It was used to describe the phenomenal experience when a person looks upon a dancer wearing their barkcloth skirt or loincloth and the painted designs “change” and “come alive with beauty”.” That these patterns “come alive” would also explain why the Ömie see a parallel between their Art and the creative forces of nature. This densely patterned aesthetic is characteristic of what could be called “The School Of Albert Sirimi”, which includes the artists, Jessie Bujava (Kipora), Barbara Rauno (Inasu) and Maureen Sirimi (Jafuri).

The works exhibited in Ömie are exquisite and archetypal examples of an ancient, though recently discovered art form. On display is a hybrid of design, performance and ritual a sublime contribution to the contemporary art world.

BRENDA KESI (ARIRÈ)

Taliobamë’e nioge (Ancestral design of the mud)

2018 Appliquèd mud-dyed nioge (barkcloth) 119cm x 66cm

BRENDA KESI (ARIRÈ)

Wo’ohohe (Ground-burrowing spider)

2018 Appliquèd mud-dyed nioge (barkcloth) 143cm x 82cm

ALBERT SIRIMI (NANATI)

Ujavu am’e (guai); taigu taigu’e; juburi anö’e; ahéhuruvë’e; nuni’e; ohu’o sabu ahe

(Ujawé initiation rite underground tattooing site; Ujawé ceremonial tattoos (jungle vine); design of the orchid-fibre woven waist-belt; design of the chopped tree log in the food garden; design of the eye; and spots of the wood-boring grub)

2012

Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth) 160cm x 65cm

BARBARA RAUNO (INASU)

Kukuhon’e soré (nuni’e, taigu taigu’e, jö’o sor’e ohu’o ori sigé)

(Designs of the bamboo smoking pipe (design of the eye, pattern of a leaf, uncurling fern fronds and pathways)

2022

Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth) 123cm x 59cm

DIONA JONEVARI (SUWARARI)

Se’a hu’e, dahoru’e, bubori anö’e, vë’i ija ahe, odunaigö’e, jö’o sor’e, sabu ahe, vinohu’e ohu’o siha’e

(Ancestor’s body designs, Ömie mountains, beaks of the Papuan Hornbill, bone of the lizard, jungle vine, uncurling fern fronds, spots of the wood-boring grub, Ujawé rite initiation tattoo of the navel and fruit of the Sihe tree)

2021

Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth)

164cm x 70.5cm

DIONA JONEVARI (SUWARARI)

Dahoru’e, bubori anö’e, vë’i ija ahe, odunaigö’e, jö’o sor’e, sabu ahe, siha’e, taigu taigu’e ohu’o douhia’e soré

(Ömie mountains, beaks of the Papuan Hornbill, bone of the lizard, climbing jungle vine with thorns and tendrils, uncurling fern fronds, spots of the wood-boring grub, fruit of the Sihe tree, leaf pattern, leg tattoo design of the female ancestor (named Kamuola))

2022

Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth)

147cm x 83cm

DIONA JONEVARI (SUWARARI)

Dahoru’e, bubori anö’e, jö’o sor’e, sabu ahe, vinohu’e ohu’o siha’e (Ömie mountains, beaks of the Papuan Hornbill, uncurling fern fronds, spots of the wood-boring grub, Ujawé rite initiation tattoo of the navel and fruit of the Sihe tree)

2022

Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth) 154cm x 73.5cm

ELIZABETH GUHO (OWKEJA)

Samwé (samu) han’e (Beriirajé/Samwé sub-clan emblem of the leaves of the tree)

2012

Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth) 129cm x 83cm

Vison’e/uge dela, visu anö’e, sabu ahe ohu’o dahoru’e

(Eel-bone jewellery for initiation nasal septum piercings, teeth of the freshwater river fish, spots of the wood-boring grub and Ömie mountains)

2022

Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth) 107cm x 55cm

Vison’e/uge dela, sabu ahe ohu’o dahoru’e

(Eel-bone jewellery for initiation nasal septum piercings, spots of the wood-boring grub and Ömie mountains)

2022

Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth) 109cm x 46.5cm

ELVINA NAUMO (EBAHINO)

Savani degirani, siha’e ohu’o dahoru’e

(Frog hipbones, fruit of the Sihe tree and Ömie mountains)

2022 Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth) 143cm x 103.5cm

JEAN NIDUVÈ (URIHÖ)

Ijögijegije, dahoru’e ohu’o bubori anö’e

(Ematé clan design of the bare tree branches, Ömie mountains and beaks of the Papuan Hornbill)

2022 Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth) 120cm x 77cm

“My mother was Avarro. She was a Chief of Sahouté clan women. When I was a young boy living at old Ab’i village, she taught me how to paint all of her designs onto the barkcloth and all our clan stories. I have been holding everything — all of her knowledge — and now I am teaching my daughters and other women of my clan what my mother taught me. I am old now and when I die, they will be the ones holding our customs and culture.”

JESSIE BUJAVA (KIPORA)

Obohutaigu’e, sin’e soré (siha’e, taigu taigu’e, jö’o sor’e), visu anö’e, vavor’e daje, bubori anö’e ohu’o ori sigé (Ancestors’ tattoo design of the chin (tree bark pattern), Ujawé rite initiation body designs (fruit of the Sihe tree, leaf pattern and uncurling fern fronds), teeth of the freshwater river fish, bush rope (jungle vine with red flowers), beaks of the Papuan Hornbill and pathways)

2022

Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth)

124cm x 57cm

MAGDALENE BUJAVA (KOLAHI)

Sogua’e (sodireje, siha’u’e, roriré, venimomö’e, uejobibgé, modahisu’e, mahuva’ojé, sin’e sore, jaji’e ohu’o areté) (Ancestor’s customary salt formation process (rock minerals, fruit of the Sihe tree, tail-feathers of the Moustached Tree Swift (Hemiprocne mystacea)in flight, pig hoof-prints of the mischievous pig in the trampled food garden, Ujawé initiation body designs, design of the drum)

2022

Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth)

103cm x 53cm

MALA NARI (MATOSI)

Dahoru’e, bubori anö’e, hurihuri’e, tuböre une ohu’o munë’e

(Ömie mountains, beaks of the Papuan Hornbill, eggs of the Dwarf Cassowary and river stones)

2015 Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth) 106cm x 86cm

MAUREEN SIRIMI (JAFURI)

Vahuhu sin’e, taigu taigu’e, siha’u’e ohu’o ori sigé

(Pattern of the snake skin, leaf pattern, fruit of the Sihe tree and pathways)

2022 Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth) 116cm x 53.5cm

PATRICIA WARERA (MATOMGUO)

Wo’ohohe

(Burrow of the ground-burrowing spider and its tracks)

2021

Appliquéd mud-dyed nioge (barkcloth) 137cm x 79cm

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) ohu’o vë’i ija ahe

(Ancestral face paint design for dancing (with initiation rite body designs, fruit of the Sihe tree/design of the navel, pattern of a leaf, uncurling fern fronds and spots of the wood-boring grub), and bone of the lizard)

2022 Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth) 156.5cm x 62cm

“I have been learning Ematé clan designs from the elders of my village. First, my motherin-law, Dapeni Jonevari (Mokokari), Chief of Ematé clan women, taught me how to paint when I first got married to her son. I learnt the old clan stories, and designs from my father-in-law, Emmanuel Jonevari too. Nathan Gama, Chief of Ematé clan men, showed me the old designs on his smoking pipe. Now I also incorporate those into my barkcloth paintings. Nathan grew up in the village of our old clan, Enopé, with barkcloth artist, Brenda Kesi (Ariré). I am painting all of the designs of my Ancestors, all together, in my own way.”

PENNY-ROSE SOSA

Hartu’e, sabu ahe ohu’o dahoru’e

(Seashell necklace of the Ancestors, spots of the wood-boring grub and Ömie mountains)

2016 Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth) 106cm x 65.5cm

Jubiri anö’e, bubori anö’e, sabu ahe, buro’ö’e, vinohu’ohu’o ori sigé

(Design of the orchid-fibre woven waist-belt, beaks of the Papuan Hornbill, spots of the wood-boring grub, Ujawé rite initiation tattoo design of the navel and pathways)

2022 Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth) 129cm x 58cm