TITLE: Freshwater river eel, Ömie mountains, beaks of the Papuan Hornbill, climbing jungle vine with thorns and tendrils, unfurling fern fronds, spots of the wood-boring grub, fruit of the Sihe tree, leaf pattern, leg tattoo design of the female ancestor (named Kamuola) ; ancestral body designs.

The borders and lines that run through the work are known as orriseegé or 'pathways' and provide a compositional framework for the designs. The or'e (path) designs are ancient and originate from the time of the Ancestors, They relate to the intricate footpaths that run through food gardens and garden plots.

The border design within each frame/panel are composed of two designs. The small black-infilled, repeated triangles are dahoru'e, Ömie mountains. This design relates to the sacred ancestral geography of Ömie territory. The zig-zag design over the triangles is buborianö'e, beaks of the Papuan Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus). Hornbills are the largest flying birds that can be found in the Ömie mountains. In the ancient story of how the first group of people emerged onto the surface Of the earth from Awai'i underground cave at a site known as Vavago, one man [who cannot be named due to current Ömie jagor'e (law)], used his hornbill beak forehead adornment as a tool to chisel his way through the rock and into the light of the world.

This main design within each frame/panel is ovi ovi'e, and represents an eel with black and yellow spots found in the rivers of Ömie territory. Diona explains that this particular eel is not eaten by Ömie people.

The key design on the left hand side outermost orriseegé border is obohutaigu'e, and represents a pattern seen on the bark of a tree. This is traditional soru'e, a tattoo design which was applied to the chin.

The spots within the ovi ovii design are sabu ahe, representing the spots found on the sides of a wood-boring grub. This design can also be seen in the the horizontal bands oforriseegé (pathways). This grub is 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) which was most commonly tattooed running in one line under both eyes. Today it is applied to Ömie faces for dance performances with bright natural pigments.

The tendril-like, plant motif within the third inner border is odunaigö'e, a climbing jungle vine with thorns and tendrils. Diona originally observed this old Ematé clan design at Gojavobehi village where Chief of Ematé clan men, Nathan Gama, was making a kukuhone, bamboo smoking pipe. This was one of the designs he was etching into the bamboo. In the ancient story of how the first group Of people emerged onto the surface Of the earth from Awai'i underground cave at a site known as Vavago, one man [who cannot be named due to current Ömie jagor'e (law)l, saw the odae jungle vine with its thorns growing inside the dark cave and was inspired to perform a self-initiation by tattooing odunaigé, the jungle vine design. onto his own body. This was the very first act of initiation performed by an ancestor. The odae vine began to grow up and up towards the light and then broke through the cave and came out through the top of the ground. The people living in the cave used the odae vine to climb out of the cave and saw the light for the first time.

The repeated, diagnonal black bands and chevrons are douhia'e soré, a leg tattoo design of the female ancestor named Kamuola.

The border at both the top and bottom of the painting contain ancestral body (tattoo) designs known as se'a hu'e. Historically, these tattoos were applied during the sacred Ujawé initiation rituals which were conducted underground in guai, isolated tattooing chambers.

The crosshatching seen within the left side of the border is wahuho sin'e sor'e, which are also body (tattoo) design of the ancestors.

The diamond designs in the left and right outermost orriseegé borders, as well as in the second border at the top and bottom, are Siha'e, representing the fruit of the Sihe tree. Sihe is a yellow fruit found in the rainforest and often eaten by cassowaries. In the time of the ancestors during times of tribal warfare, the Ömie male warriors had no food while they were defending their borders in the forest far from their villages so they survived by chewing the Sihe fruit, swallowing the juice and then they would spit out the pulp. The siha'e design is often associated with or even called vinohu'e, the tattoo design of the navel, which was applied during the sacred Ujawé initiation rituals conducted underground in guai, isolated tattooing chambers. Diona has painted the diamond shaped Siha'e design traditionally as it would be applied as a tattoo on the bodies of her ancestors, with the zigzagging taigu taigu'e design, representing the pattern seen on the leaf of a tree.