The border is orriseegé otherwise known as ‘pathways’ and provides a compositional framework for the designs. The main design of this work are the two large rectangles of solid colour...
The border is orriseegé otherwise known as ‘pathways’ and provides a compositional framework for the designs. The main design of this work are the two large rectangles of solid colour as well as the zig-zagging rectangles in and around them. These are known as vë’i ija ahe and represent the bone of the lizard. While this design can be found among several clans of the Ömie tribe this particular version belongs to the Sahuoté clan (Samorajé sub-clan) and was taught to Pauline-Rose by her father Willington Uruhé, the Paramount Chief of Ömie men, who adopted her when she was a small girl. The arrow motifs within the orriseegé border is visuanö’e, the teeth of the fish. The diamond design within the orriseegé border is siha’e, representing the fruit of the sihe tree. This is a yellow fruit found in the rainforest and often eaten by cassowaries. In the times of the ancestors Ömie people would chew the fruit, swallow the juice and spit out the pulp. The zig-zags with curled ends are sin’e sor’e, otherwise known as taigu taigu’e. These are ancestral tattoo designs representing the pattern of a leaf.