Patricia Warera Papua New Guinean, b. 1985

Patricia began creating works for Ömie Artists in 2021. She is among the last artists holding knowledge of the ancient method of barkcloth art known as sihoti’e taliobamë’e (designs of the mud). This method of appliquéing mud-dyed barkcloth was first practiced by Suja, the first woman and mother of the world, as told in the Ömie creation story. Her grandmother, Brenda Kesi (Ariré), taught her to sew the ancestral Ömie sihoti’e designs, such as, wo’ohohe - the burrow of the ground-burrowing spider and its tracks. This precious lineage of sihoti’e nioge (mud-dyed barkcloth skirts) comes from her great-grandmothers, Go’ovino and Munne, who were Ematé clanswoman from old Enopé village between the Jordan and Maruma Rivers.