![Australian Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) artwork by FATE SAVARI (ISAWDI) of Omie Artists. The title is Jov’e Idö ohu’o hijomiono’e sor’é - River Idö and old design of the bamboo on the fire with fish and eel cooking inside. [12-216] (Ink on Schoolbook Paper)](https://media.redotgallery.com/stockroom/gallery/j/jovc3a2e-idc3a3-ohuc3a2o-hijomionoc3a2e-sorc3a2c3a3-river-idc3a3-and-old-design-of-the-bamboo-on-the-fire-with-5540.png)
FATE SAVARI (ISAWDI) (dec)
12-216
Ink on Schoolbook Paper
Jov’e Idö ohu’o hijomiono’e so… | 12-216
Ink on Schoolbook Paper
17 x 22.5cm | 6.69 x 8.86in (irregular)
Find Out More
In 2012 at Gora Art Centre, Fate Savari presented a schoolbook she had obtained from her granddaughter. It was filled from front to back with drawings about her ancestral Ömie stories (including the Ömie creation story), histories, culture and clan designs. There were also some loose pages in the front and back of the schoolbook and more drawings on paper wrapped up in a larger drawing on paper. Fate created the book and drawings because she felt a great urgency to record her profound knowledge before she passed away. This is one of the special drawings from that first presentation of drawings.
Fate has drawn an old design she calls Jov’e Idö ohu’o hijomiono’e sor’é, realting to the story below of the River Idö. Here, eel fish are cooking on the fire inside the bamboo cooking container.
The seven circles with slanting lines are a different design known as ije biweje, representing boys cutting the leaves of a tree. Fate explains: “The mother was cleaning the bush to make a garden with her two young sons. The boys climbed a tree to cut all of the branches and leaves down. The branches fell down and the mother took all of the leaves and threw them away. Then the mother got plenty of bananas, taro and yam to plant in their newly cleared garden. When they finished planting all of the plants, they ate all of the food from the garden and lived a long life.” Fate seems to use this design as her artist’s signature sometimes.
RIVER IDÖ STORY
In the time of the ancestors, the people were hunting for the very first time with bamboo torches (lit by fire) at the River Idö. They were looking for fish in the night. They looked up and saw the stars for the first time and got frightened so they ran into the bush to a tree. They looked up through the branches of the tree and saw only one star, they got scared and ran back to the village. That’s why people don’t hunt for fish at the River Idö.