Mangalas ancestral initiation body designs (Design of the bellybutton, design of the bush snail and beaks of the parrot). Ilma Savari has painted customary Mangalas ancestral initiation body designs. A...
Mangalas ancestral initiation body designs (Design of the bellybutton, design of the bush snail and beaks of the parrot).
Ilma Savari has painted customary Mangalas ancestral initiation body designs. A number of designs can be seen in the work, including:
- The central circular motif is known as vinohu’e. This design was tattooed around men’s navals during the ujawé initiation rite. Vinohu’e literally translates to ‘design of the bellybutton’. This design is sometimes also referred to as siha’e - fruit of the sih’e tree. Sihe is a yellow fruit found in the rainforest and often eaten by cassowaries. In the time of the Ancestors during times of tribal warfare, the Ömie male warriors had no food while they were defending their borders in the forest far from their villages so they survived by chewing the sihe fruit, swallowing the juice and then they would spit out the pulp.
- The diamond shaped designs are another form of the same vinohu’e/siha’e design.
- The radiating fans of solid black saw-tooth triangles from the central, circular design are moköj’e an’e, beaks of the parrot.
It is important to note that the high level of detail in this work comes from the strong influence of Ilma’s mother and nioge (barkcloth) painting teacher, Sarah Ugibari, a highly respected elder. As with most of Ilma’s paintings there is a fusion of both Ömie and Managalasi designs as her ancestry comes from both language groups/peoples.