item details
Overview
History
This tapa cloth is titled Mododa'e Diburi'e Bioje'oho (Tail-feathers of the swift when sitting in the tree) and was made by Sarah Ugibari in 2012. Sarah is from the Sidoraje clan, but lives and works in the Oro Province in Papua New Guinea. This is one of two tapa cloths in Te Papa's collection made by Sarah, who is known to be the oldest woman of the Omie tribe. It was fortunate that Sarah did marry into the Omie as the villages of her parents and those in which she was raised, lost a devastating amount of cultural items including tapa. Missionaries entered Kuruwo and Kiara and destroyed the items because of their "heretical" traits. While many of Omie 's neighbours and even some of their own people gave up the practise of this art form over time, Sarah along with other Omie women maintained it as a central and integral part of their lives, a medium to express their own engagements with the world and its changes they had experienced over time.
Construction
Sarah Ugibari has created the first part of the design of the modadai (swift) bird. The cross design represents the two beautiful long tail-feathers of the modadai as they fall and cross over each other when it sits in the tree. This is an ancestral sihoti'e design (design of the mud) whose origins can be traced back to the Koruwo village area on Managalasi plateau about 1880. The design was sewn with a bat-wing bone needle and a river reed was shredded to create the sewing thread.
Acquisition history
This tapa cloth was part of the Omie Artists, Suja's Daughters exhibition and was acquired from the Andrew Baker Art Dealer in Australia in 2013.
References
Balari, S. B., Ryan, J., Modjeska, D. & Sare, A. (2009). Wisdom of the Mountain: Art of the Omie. Melbourne, Australia: National Gallery of
Gadai, A., Gama, L., Hago, P. R., Hoijo, J. M., Jonevari, D., Keme, N. & Upia, S. (2006). Omie: The barkcloth of Omie. Sydney, Australia: Presfast Pty Ltd.
Maud, P., Mallon, S. & Miller, I. (2009). Paperskin: Barkcloth across the Pacific. Exhibition Catalogue, 31 October 2009 – 14 February 2010. Brisbane, Australia: Queensland Art Gallery
Omie Artists Inc. (2013). Omie Artists. Retrieved from http://www.omieartists.com/about-us/
Omie Artists Inc., Modjeska, & D., King, B. (2013). Omie Artists: Suja's Daughters. Brisbane, Australia: Andrew Baker Art Dealer Pty Ltd.
Pacific Islands Trade & Invest. (2011). Omie Artists. Retrieved from http://www.pacifictradeinvest.com/index.php/cat/file/54-omie-bark-cloth