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 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. She used whatever materials she could find on hand. After presenting this first book, Fate requested “another book and drawing materials” so she could still create art during the seasons that she didn’t have any barkcloth to paint. So in 2014, Fate filled yet another drawing book with her art and this drawing is from that second collection of drawings.

Fate has drawn a detail of the second part of the creation story of Mina and Suja, the first people. Mina, the first man and Suja, the first woman, were living together at Mount Obo. Mina stole the first fire from Insa (also known as Vitara), the old woman who lived right on top of Huvaimo (Mount Lamington). Mina and Suja did not yet realise that wood could be used to keep fires burning or that they coud eat animals. They would use dried animal parts (instead of firewood) to keep the stolen fire burning. Fate explains further: “Mina and Suja went hunting early one morning and caught a cuscus (webe). They went back to their house on Mount Obo and in the afternoon they cut the cuscus up into pieces and placed the meat on hot stones. They then covered the meat with leaves and left it to cook. When they saw that the cuscus meat was cooked they took it inside the house and hung it above the stolen fire to dry out. They kept the stolen fire burning using the dried cuscus meat.” Fate has drawn vene vitwé, Mina and Suja’s cooking site/fireplace where they would cook the animal meat which was used to keep the stolen fire burning on their home at Mount Obo. The cooking stones known as hitai hu’e are shown in the firepit. The webe nun’e (eyes of the cuscus) are coming out from the eye sockets as it cooks on the fire. Fate learnt this nioge design from her mother Majaho, a Dahorurajé clanwoman from the old Dahorurajé clan village of Sidonejo. This village was closest to the sacred Mount Obo.

The borders are orriseegé or ‘pathways’ through the gardens and provide a compositional framework for the designs. Other designs:

~ The chevron (arrow-tip) design is buborianö ’e, beaks of the Papuan Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus).

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

~ The trails of short lines are 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 (Mt. 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 with natural pigments for dance performances.

~ The small black infilled triangles are moköjö hwe ahe, the markings on the red chest feathers of the parrot. 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.

 ~ 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 jewelry. Fate’s father Lokirro told her about his travels to find and trade for seashells on the coast.