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Birlmu (Barramundi) at Kabumi

Kubumi is a sacred site on the Mann River. This is its story, as told by a ritual manager of the site, Lulu Laradjbi, with the authority of her husband Mick Kubarkku, a land owner of that country.

Ngalyod the Rainbow Serpent pierced the rock at a place called Bolerrhlerrh and journeyed downstream from there to Ngalmalanj. The camping place Kubumi is downstream from there but at Ngalmalanj the serpent was blocked. It pushed down into the riverbed, pushed into the earth, sinking down forever. Now it lives under the rocky riverbed. That site continues downstream. Upstream is the site Molerrhlerrh, which has a waterfall and a big waterhole. There the serpent moved inside, downstream, to the lower region.

During the dry season at Kubumi, the Mann River shrinks to a series of deep waterholes, exposing the tunnels through the rocky outcrop that interconnect the pools.

Categories: Maningrida Arts & Culture

Name: Grace Laradjbi

Language: Kuninjku

Biography:

Grace Laradjbi is the daughter of senior fibre artist Lulu Laradjbi whose partner was the acclaimed bark painter Mick Kubarkku.  Grace makes 2D pandanus panels and sculptures often depicting barramundi, stingrays and  yawkyawks (female water spirits). Her works are characterised by strong designs, intricate technique and bold use of colour. 

Grace uses gun-menama (pandanus spiralis) to create her works. To prepare the pandanus the inner leaves of the plant are collected using a hook. Each V-shaped leaf is first split in half along its spine. After removing the sharp spines, the two surfaces of the leaf are then split away from other. After this preparation, the pandanus is boiled in a billycan with plant materials to dye the fibre. Like her contemporaries, Grace only uses natural dyes and achieves enormous variation. Common colours in her work include:

- barra gu-jirra: the soft, white and fleshy end of the pandanus leaf imparts green to the fibre.

-  mun-gumurduk/ gala (Pogonolobus reticulatus): a bright yellow root that is crushed and put in a billycan with the fibre and boiled. It creates yellow when boiled once and deep orange hues when boiled multiple times.

- ngalpur (Haemodorum brevicaule): a bright red root which yields a range of purply red to brown colours.

- Baluk: ashes of certain plants are added to the boiling billycan with the fibre and dye plants to alter the colour that is imparted to the fibre. The fruiting body of gulpiny (Banksia denanta) is burnt and the ashes added to other day plants to make the colour pink. 

(Margie West, 1995, Maningrida - the Language of Weaving)

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