Details of vagure - fern leaves

Catalog Number : 28164
Size : 118cm x 63cm
Medium : natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth)
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Jean-Mary was walking through the highly sacred ancestral Dahoruraje clanlands around Mt Omie which forms part of the greater volcano Huvaemo or Mt Lamington. In this country she observed a beautiful fern whose leaves grew out from each other with connecting stems. Using uehorero (her own wisdom) she was inspiried to create this design. Ferns hold a particularly special symbol for Omie women because once they reach sexual maturity they are ceremonially initiated into womanhood by being marked with a facial tattoo just by their mouths on the cheek. This design is called jo o sor'e and represents the uncurling of the fern frond. This practice is not simply clan based but is apparent througout the entire Omie tribe and so ferns have come to unify Omie women and in many ways are a visual signifier of their gender. The lines that run through the work are known as orriseege or 'pathways' and provide a compositional framework for the design.