Fate Savari Papua New Guinea, Omie, b. c 1933 - 2019

“When I was young Iused to live with my mother at old Sidonejo village near the volcano, Huvaimo. I always stayed with her learning to mix red, yellow and black coloured pigments and I learnt where to find everything I need to make barkcloth in the forest. Our ancestors were living in the bush and when I was a small girl I saw Bamu Tenny start to build the town [Popondetta] with sago leaf rooves. At that time there was no school and no airport. Now asan old woman, I paint my barkcloth designs to show the world I am still here, living and painting at Gora village so that my memory will live on, otherwise our Ömie culture will be lost.”Fate Savari (Isawdi) has been painting for Ömie Artists since the Gora village art centre was established by the community in late 2008, officially opening in 2009. She was undisputedly the most knowledgeable artist and (humble) female cultural leader in all of Ömie territory as shehas been painting her entire life, since she was a very young girl. Her mother was Majaho and her fatherwas the legendary Lokirro, both Dahorurajé clanspeople from Sidonejo village. The old village of Sidonejo was destroyed during the 1951 eruption of Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) and the village was relocated to present day Savodobehi. Both Sidonejo and Savodobehi are highly significant villages as they are nestled high in the mountains close to the sacred mountains frequently referred to in the Ömie creation story—Huvaimo (Mount Lamington), where the world began; and Mount Obo, home of the first people, Mina and Suja.Fate learnt a wealth of soru’e (tattoo designs) from her mother. In splendid detail, she paintsher knowledge of—the sacred Ömie creation story; ancestral stories; stories linked to sacred sites and sites of significance; ancient nioge (barkcloth) designs; microcosmic and phenomenological details and observations of the tropical landscape; and Ömie histories. Through thecomplexity, sophistication and extraordinary diversity of her designs, Fate’spaintings take us to the source-to the very heart of the world of Ömie. With each new painting Fate reveals new ancestral knowledge and prides herself on executing that knowledge in the most visually compelling way possible. She is a true artist of the highest order.
She is the widow of Evorajé clanman Fall Savari and moved from her village of Savodobehi to his village in the Gora valley when they married. Fall taught Fate theancestral stories of his land in the Gora valley. Fate has taught many of her designs to her daughter, Hilda Mekio, as well as her daughter-in-law, Linda-Grace Savari. Isawdi is the proud mother of seven children.Fate tells a vivid account of her time during the Second World War. This was one of her first encounters with ‘outsiders’: “I was in the house with my family at Sidonejo when we first heard the warplane flying over. When we went outside and saw the plane my parents gathered upmy family and we ran as quickly as we could towards our new yam garden and hid ourselves in the bush under a tree.”