Jessy-Rose has painted a very old design that she inherited from her great-grandmother (her father’s mother), Go’ovino. Go’ovino belonged to the Gusirajé clan [1] and lived in the old village...
Jessy-Rose has painted a very old design that she inherited from her great-grandmother (her father’s mother), Go’ovino. Go’ovino belonged to the Gusirajé clan [1] and lived in the old village of Enopé before it was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) in 1951. The design is called rorono hanö’e representing the Gusirajé clan design of the roron’e plant that grows on dry land. When a man kills a cassowary he breaks the leaf of the roron’e and places it in his hair. When the man returns to the village, all of the village people and Chiefs know that that the man has had a successful cassowary hunt.
[1] Artist Brenda Kesi (Ariré), Go’ovino’s daughter, says Go’ovino belonged to the Ematé clan. It is likely that the Gusirajé is a sub-clan of the Ematé clan.