The lines that run through the work are known as orriseegé or ‘pathways’ and provide a compositional framework for the design. The large zig-zagging diamonds are dahoru’e, the design of the Ömie mountains.  

The rows of small black triangles like sawtooths at their edges are buborianö’e, the beaks of the Papuan Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus). In one version of the story of how the first Ömie Ancestors emerged onto the surface of the earth from Awai’i underground cave at Vavago, a man used his hornbill beak forehead adornment as a tool to chisel his way through the rock and into the light of the world.  

The cross-hatch design is tuböru une, the design of the egg of the Dwarf Cassowary (Casuarius bennetti). Cassowary eggs are an important seasonal food source for Ömie people. 

Title: Dahoru’e, tuböre une, buboriano’e, ohu’o sabu ahe (Ömie mountiains, eggs of the Dwarf Cassowary, beaks of Blyth's Hornbill and spots of the wood-boring grub)
Artist: Botha Kimmikimmi (Hirokiki)
Medium: Natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth)
Dimensions (cm): 108 x 43cm
Hanging device: Timber dowel attached (sewn on with fabric) with two wire loops on either end to hang on two screws or nails
Catalogue Number: 19-001

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