With her profound uehorëro or ‘wisdom’, Fate has painted a dramatic scene common in Ömie territory and likely to be of historical significance among the Ömie or certain clans[1]. The border is known as orriseegé or ‘pathways’ and provides a compositional framework for the designs.

The large zig-zag that Fate has painted represents a bend in the river, jowo tahgwe. The river is the same one that Fate often paints known as Uborida, or the Jordan River, which is close to Gora village where she has lived most of her life since she married as a young woman. The fine yellow markings through the centre of the work are the powerful flooding waters of the river after rain. The fine red and yellow markings at each side of the work are the breaking banks of the river as it floods. While Fate has not painted the man crossing the flooding river in this particular instance, this design originates strongly from this story.

The spots within both the orriseegé and the river bend 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 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 slanting lines within the river bend 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.”

The criss-cross design within both the orriseegé and the river bend is mi’ija’ahe, animal bones found while digging in the garden.

The bristle design of fine, short lines seen within the orriseegé are dubidubi’e han’e which are small white plants that grow on mountaintops.

The chevron (arrow-tip) design within the river bend is buboriano’e, beaks of the Papuan Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus).

Note [1]: Similarly, an Ömie song written by Aiden Gadai of Duharenu village (artists Aspasia Gadai’s late husband) also tells of a man’s dangerous journey to cross a river during a flood.