Loloi c.1998

Holding symbolic significance, rings of Diwarra (shell money) are sealed in a wrapping of pandanus leaves or cane bindings for a dual purpose: to keep the ring dry and to declare it to be a ‘bank’, which can only be opened in a public ceremony. The men who wrap or bind the ring perform the role of ‘treasurer’, responsible for counting the shell strips and vouching for their subsequent value in the event the Diwarra ‘bank’ is opened during a ceremony.

The rings presented in ‘An Eloquent Inheritance’ display both pandanus leaf and cane seals. The beautiful cane bindings have been woven in designs known as kekena ulia, which refers to the leg of the sandpiper, a seabird called ulia in the Kuanua language of the Gunantuna people. The design’s eight knots are ‘eyes’, called kakatua. Some Gunantuna will have the kekena ulia marking tattooed high on their cheekbone pointing towards their eye, as these cane bindings do. It is believed that this is the first time that these designs have been woven since the late 1990s.

— Gideon Kakabin