In Papua New Guinea's Omie tribe, the women paint on bark, men dance

While nature often inspires paintings, it is not as often that it provides artists with the materials for their creations as well.

Of Spirit And Splendour, which opens at the ReDot Fine Art Gallery on Wednesday (March 13), is a fine example of nature doing double duty. It features more than 30 pieces of barkcloth art from the rural villages of Papua New Guinea, created purely from materials found in the jungle.

The paintings are the work of women from the Omie tribe, who reside in 12 settlements scattered around the foot of Mount Lamington, a volcano. Their designs are mostly bold, geometric ancestral clan motifs.

Traditionally, only females produce the barkcloth paintings, as men have their own forms of artistic expression, such as dancing and adorning themselves with headdresses.