The lines that run through the work are known as orriseegé or ‘pathways’ and provide a compositional framework for the designs. The or’e (path) designs are ancient and originate from the time of the Ancestors and relate to the intricate footpaths that run through food gardens and garden plots.

The concentric squares, which are both a central motif and conjoined, are nuni’e, the design of the eye. This is an important design for men’s bamboo smoking pipes, called kuku hon’e, which were finely incised with intricate patterns and designs. The nuni’e design can often also be found woven on armlets and waistbelts which are made from numise (yellow orchid fibre), jukire (black orchid fibre) and ninube (brown orchid fibre).

The diamond design is siha’e, representing the fruit of the sihe tree. The siha’e design is sometimes also called vinohu’e, the men’s tattoo design of the navel. 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 often associated with or even called vinohu’e, the tattoo design of the navel.

The radiating streams of zigzags are taigu taigu’e and their curly offshoots are jö’o sor’e, fern fronds. These designs are collectively called sin’e sor’e, skin designs, and these were often tattooed on the upper arms of boys for their initiation into manhood in the Ujawé ceremony. This important rite of passage and ritual was conducted underground in guai (isolated tattooing chambers). Mens’ entire bodies would be tattooed while only the cheeks of women were tattooed. Barbara’s ancestors would stay for a period of seclusion in a guai where they underwent their sacred initiation tattooing.

Copyright for the text remains with Ömie Artists Inc.

‍