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(Nome Javavamu Darugé Ijové) We Dance Our Designs to Life

(Nome Javavamu Darugé Ijové) We Dance Our Designs to Life

A Collection of Barkcloth Art from the Ömie Artists, Papua New Guinea

Australian Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) artwork by REX WARRIMOU (SABIO) of Omie Artists. The title is Our Creation (Ömie Creation). [17-018] (Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth))

REX WARRIMOU (SABIO)

Our Creation (Ömie Creation)

17-018
Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth)
82 x 127cm | 32.3 x 50in (irregular)
Omie Artists
Australian Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) artwork by SARAH UGIBARI of Omie Artists. The title is Maijaro i’e hö’oje – Morning rays of the sun shining down on the forest. [15-032] (Appliquéd Mud-Dyed Nioge (Barkcloth))

SARAH UGIBARI

Maijaro i’e hö’oje – Morning rays of the sun shining do…

15-032
Appliquéd Mud-Dyed Nioge (Barkcloth)
121 x 60.5cm | 47.6 x 23.8in (irregular)
Omie Artists
Australian Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) artwork by BRENDA KESI (ARIRÉ) of Omie Artists. The title is Taliobamë’e – Ancestral Design of the Mud. [15-050] (Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth))

BRENDA KESI (ARIRÉ)

Taliobamë’e – Ancestral Design of the Mud

15-050
Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth)
105 x 77cm | 41.3 x 30.3in (irregular)
Omie Artists
Australian Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) artwork by DAPENI JONEVARI (MOKOKARI) of Omie Artists. The title is Mahudan’e ohu’o dahoru’e – Pig tusks (customary Ömie wealth) and Ömie mountains. [16-016] (Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth))

DAPENI JONEVARI (MOKOKARI)

Mahudan’e ohu’o dahoru’e – Pig tusks (customary Ömie we…

16-016
Natural Pigments on Nioge (Barkcloth)
154 x 57.5cm | 60.6 x 22.6in (irregular)
Omie Artists

04 Oct 2017

ReDot Fine Art Gallery is thrilled to announce that the internationally celebrated Ömie women artists of Papua New Guinea will return to Singapore for a monumental 3rd exhibition of their barkcloth paintings this October.

Nom’e Javavamu Darugé I’jové (We Dance Our Designs to Life) is fittingly dedicated to the late Dapeni Jonevari (Mokokari), one of the great master painters of the Ömie’s ujawé initiation tattoo designs, who sadly passed away peacefully in her village home in October 2016. Her works in this exhibition represent some of the very last and most significant pieces she produced before her untimely passing. Dapeni’s immense contribution as a pioneering senior artist of the Ömie Artists cooperative from 2004 onwards, played a key role towards the flourishing of this extraordinary barkcloth art movement that we see today.

Highlights of the 31-piece exhibition, the most significant show of 2017 for the artists, will be the finely worked and powerful paintings by the Paramount Chief of Ömie women, Lila Warrimou (Misaso), as well as arresting, minimalist sihoti’e mud-dyed barkcloths by the last two women remaining who create their designs with a unique and ancient sewing technique using bat-wing bones, Sarah Ugibari and Brenda Kesi (Ariré) and of course the mesmerising final works by Dapeni Jonevari (Mokokari).

The exhibition begins on Wednesday 4th October and runs until Saturday 4th November 2017. A must-see show for anyone interested in Oceanic Art practices and the current evolution of this art movement.