Nom’e Javavamu Darugé I’jové (We Dance Our Designs to Life)

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

Nom’e Javavamu Darugé I’jové (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 DAPENI JONEVARI (MOKOKARI) of Omie Artists. The title is Butotu’e ohu’o dahoru’e (Spiderweb and Ömie mountains). [16-021] (Appliquéd Mud-Dyed Nioge (Barkcloth)) Australian Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) artwork by DAPENI JONEVARI (MOKOKARI) of Omie Artists. The title is Butotu’e ohu’o dahoru’e (Spiderweb and Ömie mountains). [16-021] (Appliquéd Mud-Dyed Nioge (Barkcloth))
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DAPENI JONEVARI (MOKOKARI)

Butotu’e ohu’o dahoru’e (Spiderweb and Ömie mountains)
16-021
Appliquéd Mud-Dyed Nioge (Barkcloth)
 Butotu’e ohu’o dahoru’e (Spide… | 16-021
Appliquéd Mud-Dyed Nioge (Barkcloth…
 90 x 68.5cm | 35.43 x 26.97in (irregular)
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Dapeni has painted butote’e, the design of the spiderweb. Spiders and spiderwebs figure strongly in Ömie lore. While symbolism based upon spiders and spiderwebs is no longer commonly seen in Ömie barkcloth art [1], it does exist [2].

Dapeni provides us with her personal account of how she was inspired to paint this particular design: “The eruption of Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) in 1951 destroyed most of the villages and forests. Fire and ash came out of the top of that big mountain and covered everything. All of the trees were burnt black, but the trunks remained. When I was just a small girl my parents took me to the old villages and I remember there was no life, no anything - except for the spiderwebs that stretched out between the black, charred trees. It was a very good sign that life was slowly returning and that our forests would slowly grow back and we were very happy.” [1]

The border around the nioge is known as orriseegé or ‘a pathway’, providing a compositional framework for the main design. The triangles around the edges of the orriseegé are dahoru’e, the design of the Ömie mountains.

[1] As at 2017, the only artist still creaing such designs is Brenda Kesi.
[2] Spiderwebs and spider-based barkcloth designs were painted by Ömie artists Mary Naumo, Lila Warrimou, Dapeni Jonevari and an unidentified elder of the Sahuoté clan in the Budo-Gorabuna region of Ömie territory.
[3] Translated by Raphael Bujava, December 2011

Dapeni has painted butote’e, the design of the spiderweb. Spiders and spiderwebs figure strongly in Ömie lore. While symbolism based upon spiders and spiderwebs is no longer commonly seen in Ömie barkcloth art [1], it does exist [2].

Dapeni provides us with her personal account of how she was inspired to paint this particular design: “The eruption of Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) in 1951 destroyed most of the villages and forests. Fire and ash came out of the top of that...