Brenda Kesi

"Taliobamë'e nioge (Ancestral design of the mud)" Natural Ochre on Barkcloth

Brenda was a young girl during the turmoil of World War II and she remembers the 1951 eruption of Dahore Huvaimo (Mount Lamington). Brenda's mother was Go'ovino and her father was Valéla, both Ematé clans people from old Enopé village between the Jordan and Maruma Rivers. It was here that her mother taught her how to sew her grandmother, Munne's, sihoti'e taliobamë'e - designs of the mud. This method of appliquéing mud-dyed barkcloth was first practiced by Suja, the first woman and mother of the world, as told in the Ömie creation story. Brenda has begun to teach her sister Teresa Kione (Avur'e) to sew the ancestral Ömie sihoti'e designs such as wo'ohohe - ground-burrowing spider and taigu taigu'e - ancestral tattoo designs. Brenda lives happily by the Jordan River with her husband Robinson Kesi. Brenda Kesi is one of the finest bark cloth creators among the Ömie women living in the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea. Since 2008 Kesi has exhibited widely in Australia and Europe.