Fate has created a highly significant barkcloth she calls mahu sin’e which translates as ‘skin of the pig’. This is the only known example and there is nothing else like it created by any other Ömie artist. The strips/bands represent the pig’s skin as they were sewn by the ancestors onto the cloth. The design painted onto the ‘pig skin’ strips/bands are also known as mahu sin’e. Fate explains, “The whole thing is mahu sin’e. In the time of our Ancestors, my grandmother and our ancestors before her, they created barkcloths using the skin of the pig. There was a feast so the people killed a a pig. They used the pig skin, cut it and sewed it onto the sihoti’e nioge (the mud barkcloth).” - Translated by Raphael Bujava, Gora Art Centre, Gora village, 2012.

Fate also explains that her grandmother would use mud to paint just as this piece has been painted. This is highly significant as while we know Ömie artists dye barkcloths in mud, however, this is the only known example of mud being used to paint with.

The zig zag sewing technique used to sew the bands of pig skin is a design in itself called buboriano’e, representing the beaks of the Papuan Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus). The ends of the ‘pig skin’ strips bands have been cut into zig zags. This is also buboriano’e, representing the beaks of the Papuan Hornbill. This design can often be seen throughout Ömie painting but this is the first and only instance I have ever seen the design created in its original form using the ancient sewing and cutting techniques.

The complex designs painted in black, red and yellow pigments Fate also calls mahu sin’e, the skin of the pig. Fate has painted many designs within the mahu sin’e design, including:

~ The slanting lines are 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.” Please note that Fate also paints the ije biweje design as cicles with the same slanted line. This circular ije biweje design can be seen painted twice on the left hand side of the work, on their own separate strip of barkcloth.

~ dubi han’e, leaves of the dubi’e vine that grows up trees.

~ The criss-cross designs are mi’ija’ahe, animal (wallaby) bones found while digging in the garden.

~ The spots are known as sabu deje 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. Today it is applied to Ömie people’s faces for dance performances with natural pigments.

~ The curved lines are nenyai, a white seashell forehead adornment worn by women. Fate says these were made “in the times of the Ancestors” and are still worn today. Ömie people obtained the seashells from coastal tribes of Oro Province by means of trade and they also collected them from the beach. Seashells were a foreign, rare and beautiful material from the faraway coast so they were highly valued in the Ömie mountains and would be displayed as a form of wealth on both men and women’s jewellery. Fate’s father Lokirro told her about his travels to find and trade for seashells on the coast.

~ The small black infilled triangles are moköjö bineb’e, the red chest feathers of the parrot.
(Note: The moköjö bird appears in several Dahorurajé and Sahuoté clan stories. The birds often appear as a flock in the form of a cloud, stealing children or collecting deceased children and carrying them/delivering them to the ancestor spirit villages high on the volcano Huvaimo and other mountaintops where deceased Ancestors reside. In the old stories, the parrots also commonly communicate and bring messages of warning to Ömie people.)