WARRIMOU 2025.401

Lila Warrimou is the Paramount Chief of Ömie women in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea. In this nioge (barkcloth) design, she honours the previous Paramount Chief by adopting her predecessor’s concentric painting style. Warrimou incorporates sabu ahe, an Ömie motif that represents the spots of the wood-boring grub, considered sacred to Ömie people as it plays an important part within the creation story of how Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) came to be volcanic. It is a traditional sor’e (tattoo design), most often tattooed running in one line under both eyes.