Petra has painted a very special design taught to her by the Assistant Paramount Chief of Ömie men and Sahuoté clanman, Albert Sirimi. Albert tells how the design is very old and came from the time of the ancestors. In essence the conjoined circles represent beauty itself. More specifically, the Ömie word “buriétö’e” is used to refer to the beauty of the barkcloth designs, especially when seen from afar during dancing and the cloth “changes” and comes alive with beauty. So buriétö’e is a phenomena that occurs when an onlooker is dazzled by a dancer’s painted barkcloth designs as they move - the designs become charged with visual power. This design exemplifies and activates this phenomena. The lines that run through the work are known as orriseegé or ‘pathways’ and provide a compositional framework for the design. The spots within the orriseegé is a design called 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 Huvaemo (Mt. Lamington) came to be volcanic. It is a traditional soru’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.

Copyright for the text remains with Ömie Artists Inc.

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