Amami sor’e, jö’o sor’e, buborianö’e ohu’o sabu ahe

Ilma Savari’s nioge (painted barkcloth skirts) capture the sacred geometries and clan-specific cultural knowledge of the Ömie and Managalasi tribeswomen from Huvaemo (Mt. Lamington) in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea. Ömie Artists is a cooperative of women who paint their ancient clan designs with natural pigments in freehand onto sections of hand beaten bark from the inner skin of the paper mulberry tree. Artists paint designs inspired by the Ömie territory's lush rainforests, wild rivers and sacred creation sites such as the volcano Huvaemo and Mount Obo. The red, yellow and black colored pigments are created from fruits, ferns, leaves and ash, skillfully mixed into a vibrant palette.


Barkcloth painting is an ancient art for Ömie women. The first nioge was made by Sujo, the founding female ancestor of the Ömie. After experiencing her first period, Sujo cut the bark from a sihe tree and soaked it in red mud to symbolize menstrual blood and her capacity to give birth. She then cut this barkcloth in half to create two skirts – one worn by herself and the other her husband Mina. Following Sujo, all Ömie women make and paint nioge once they are of reproductive age. Nioge serve important purposes in marriage, funerary and initiation ceremonies and are still worn today by men, women and children during traditional ceremonies which involve feasting and spectacular performances of singing, dancing and kundu drumming.


In the middle of the twentieth century, a series of catastrophic events on the Ömie territory led women to start painting their barks with the sacred clan designs associated the ancient initiation ceremony known as the ujawé that involved tattooing clan insignia (sor'e) onto the skin. During the Second World War, an Australian patrol arrived to recruit young men as labor on the Kokoda Track. They arrived in the middle of the initiation ceremonies that only take place on a seven-to-twelve-year cycle, and removed the young men before they could finish the rites or receive their marks. As much as the devastation of the war, elders grieved the failure to complete these ceremonies, which left the mountain unprotected. In 1951, Huvaemo erupted causing widespread destruction of Ömie villages. Dahorurajé clan Chiefs Warrimou and Nogi took the eruption as a warning from the Spirit of Huvaemo and the ancestors to all Ömie people - that they must hold onto their traditional culture and turn away from outsiders. The Chiefs therefore spread the word to encourage the women to paint their tattoo designs onto the barkcloth to appease the ancestors. And so triumphantly, the Ömie have managed to preserve their traditional tattoo designs through the women's strong barkcloth painting tradition.


Ilma Savari has been painting for the Ömie Artists cooperative alongside her mother, venerated elder Sarah Ugibari, since 2009. Ilma paints both Ömie and Managalasi barkcloth designs that have been handed down to her from her mother. At the dawn of time, Managalasi and Ömie Ancestors emerged from the underground cave Vavago as a single people. Over time, these first people migrated across the greater Huvaimo region and into Hydrographer’s Range above Managalasi Plateau. Subsequently this group split into separate tribes, yet both still celebrate their shared creation story of Mina and Suja. They also have many customs and barkcloth designs in common. Ilma creates works originating from both tribes because her mother Sarah was born Managalasi but later married an Ömie man. It was she who brought knowledge of Managalasi culture into the Ömie realm. Ilma’s painted Ömie designs depict traditional Sidorajé clan tattoo markings, while her painted Managalasi designs originate from Koruwo and Kiara villages high on Hydrographer’s Range.


The composition of this nioge is customary Mangalas design. The finer black lines painted around and within the main design are body marking designs. The plant motif is a design known as jö’o sor’e, uncurling fern fronds, which was traditionally tattooed on both sides of Ömie women’s mouths for initiation. The black infilled, repeated triangles are buborianö’e, the beaks of the Papuan Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus). In one version of the story of how the first Ömie ancestors emerged onto the surface of the earth from Awai’i underground cave, 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. The fine dots that have also been incorporated into this design are sabu ahe representing the spots which can be seen on the sides of a wood-boring grub. This grub is sacred to Ömie people as it plays an important part within the creation story of how Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) came to be volcanic. It is a traditional sor’e (tattoo design) which was most commonly tattooed running in one line under both eyes.