The complex angular patterns of this textile—diamond shapes with hooks—can be interpreted as stylized human torsos with four limbs that represent many generations of ancestors. Such textiles were used in ceremonies surrounding the death of honored persons. They functioned as shrouds to wrap the honored dead or wall hangings that provided a backdrop for the principal participants at funerals or other important ceremonies.

Papori to Noling means "ikat weaving of the Noling people," in reference to the method of dyeing warp yarns before weaving them into cloth and to the center of this weaving style. It would have taken many weeks or moths of steeping the yarns in dyes made from the indigo plant and the roots and bark of Indian mulberry to achieve these shades of blue (indigo) and red (mulberry).

Excerpt from

Roslyn A. Walker, Label text, 2016.