The lines that run through the work are known as orriseegé (paths/pathways) and provide a compositional framework for the designs. The border design within each frame is composed of two designs - the triangles are dahoru’e, Ömie mountains, and the zig-zag design over the triangles is buborianö’e, the beaks of the Papuan Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus). Hornbills are the largest flying birds that can be found in the Ömie mountains. The plant motif is odunaigö’e, a climbing jungle vine that has sharp thorns. Diona originally observed this old Ematé clan design at Gojavobehi village where Chief of Ematé clan men, Nathan Gama, was making a kukuhone (bamboo smoking pipe). This was one of the designs he was etching into its surface. The design with rows of black squares and dots is vë’i ija ahe, the bone of the lizard. Diona learnt this design from her father-in-law, Emmanuel Jonevari. This is the story for the vë’i ija ahe design, as told to Diona by Emmanuel (recorded April 2011 at Godibehi village):

In the time of the ancestors, there were two lizards known as evené that lived on Huvaimo (Mt. Lamington), a male and female. The lizards were very large and their heads were predominantly red and black in colour with some yellow also. We Ömie people can never kill or eat the lizards because they live in a secret place on the banks of jov’e Iliri (the Iliri River). Sometimes our ancestors would see the lizards sun-baking on a flat stone by the river but they are fast and retreat quickly. The stones and rocks where the lizards live are yellow [1] and when the water of the Iliri River flows through this area it turns a milky colour.

[1] This is likely to be sulpher from the volcano

The spots within the orriseegé 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 soru’e (tattoo design) which was most commonly tattooed running in one line under both eyes.

The diamond design represents the fruit of the sihe 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 siha’e design is sometimes also called vinohu’e, the men’s tattoo design of the bellybutton. The diamond shape was tattooed around men’s navals during the Ujawé initiation rite.