Tapa Paintings Omie People, Oro Province Papua New Guinea

This beautiful Tapa Painting is by the senior artist and Paramount Chief of Omie Women Mrs Lila Warrimou.

The artworks from the Omie People took the world by surprise when the intrepid field collector David Baker (1943-2009) made the long walk to  Mount Lamington to visit the Omie Villages for the first time.  When he arrived he was amazed to find superbly made & painted Bark Cloths that were being used for ceremonial purposes.  These Bark Paintings were very different in style to their neighbours,  the Orokaivan who also make Bark Cloth for their ceremonial dances.

David Baker asked the Omie People to paint some Bark Cloth Paintings for him and he would come back the following year. This amazing collection of  56 Bark Cloth Paintings were ones that he felt were the best examples and were not influenced by the demand of the art market.  He asked people to paint their clan designs as they liked & he would buy them all.  No one was discluded.

There have been several exhibitions of Omie Bark Cloth but their main achievement was the world-class exhibition at The National Gallery Of Victoria in Melbourne in 2009. Several Omie Artists came for the exhibition to sing & paint and it was the first time they had been out of their traditional area.   The catalogue for this exhibition “ The Wisdom of the Mountain “  by Judith Ryan is the most detailed description of Omie Art & Culture.

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