JUNGLE GEOMETRY: New Ömie Paintings from Papua New Guinea
Past exhibition
Elvina Naumo Papua New Guinean, b. 1994
Savani degirani, dahoru’e, vinohu’e , siha’e ohu’o bubori anö’e, 2022
natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth)
140.5 x 69.5 cm
22-029
TITLE : Frog hipbones, Ujawé initiation rite tattoo design of the navel, Ömie mountainsand Papuan Hornbill beaks. Elvina was taught this design by her mother, the late Mary Naumo, who...
TITLE : Frog hipbones, Ujawé initiation rite tattoo design of the navel, Ömie mountainsand Papuan Hornbill beaks.
Elvina was taught this design by her mother, the late Mary Naumo, who was a former Chief of Ematé clan women and a highly respected barkcloth artist. The main conjoined, concentric circle design is savani degirani, representing the hip-bones of the mountain frog. The concentric circles represent the hip-joint. Observations of the natural world are a major facet of Ömie barkcloth painting designs. This not only applies to the outer world that is most commonly seen—the Ömie also look inside the natural world as if to uncover internal geometries, ostensibly of a more secret and intimate knowledge of their natural and sacred environment, to an inner world within a world. Dapeni Jonevari, Chief of Ematé clan women, was a close friend and peer of Mary Naumo and explains how this design was inspired when a woman ancestor was eating a frog and saw the hip-joint bones.
The border is known as orriseegé or 'pathway' and provides a compositional framework for the designs. The or'e (path) designs are ancient and originate from the time of the Ancestors and relate to the intricate footpaths that run through food gardens and garden plots.
The star-like circles seen within the upper band of orriseegé are vinohu'e, a design which was tattooed around men's navels during the Ujawé initiation rite. Vinohu'e literally translates to 'design of the navel'. This design is related to the Siha'e design, which represents the 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.
Within the Outer border and orriseegé is the black zigzag/sawtooth and triangle design called dahoru'e, Ömie mountains. This design relates to the sacred ancestral geography of Ömie territory.
The chevrons in the second band are buborianö'e [beaks of the Papuan Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus)l. There is a spiritual element to the hornbill beak design. In one version of the story of how the first Ömie Ancestors emerged onto the surface of the earth from Awai'i underground cave at Vavago, a man used his hornbill beak forehead adornment as a tool to chisel his way through the rock and into the light of the world.
Elvina was taught this design by her mother, the late Mary Naumo, who was a former Chief of Ematé clan women and a highly respected barkcloth artist. The main conjoined, concentric circle design is savani degirani, representing the hip-bones of the mountain frog. The concentric circles represent the hip-joint. Observations of the natural world are a major facet of Ömie barkcloth painting designs. This not only applies to the outer world that is most commonly seen—the Ömie also look inside the natural world as if to uncover internal geometries, ostensibly of a more secret and intimate knowledge of their natural and sacred environment, to an inner world within a world. Dapeni Jonevari, Chief of Ematé clan women, was a close friend and peer of Mary Naumo and explains how this design was inspired when a woman ancestor was eating a frog and saw the hip-joint bones.
The border is known as orriseegé or 'pathway' and provides a compositional framework for the designs. The or'e (path) designs are ancient and originate from the time of the Ancestors and relate to the intricate footpaths that run through food gardens and garden plots.
The star-like circles seen within the upper band of orriseegé are vinohu'e, a design which was tattooed around men's navels during the Ujawé initiation rite. Vinohu'e literally translates to 'design of the navel'. This design is related to the Siha'e design, which represents the 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.
Within the Outer border and orriseegé is the black zigzag/sawtooth and triangle design called dahoru'e, Ömie mountains. This design relates to the sacred ancestral geography of Ömie territory.
The chevrons in the second band are buborianö'e [beaks of the Papuan Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus)l. There is a spiritual element to the hornbill beak design. In one version of the story of how the first Ömie Ancestors emerged onto the surface of the earth from Awai'i underground cave at Vavago, a man used his hornbill beak forehead adornment as a tool to chisel his way through the rock and into the light of the world.