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Status: Stock

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Pandanus earrings by Daphne Banyawarra

• Bush-dyed pandanus, harvested locally and dyed with bush dyes
• Silver plated hooks 

Yolŋu artistand masterweaver Daphne Banyawarra is a strong Ganalbingu woman from Gurrwiliny (Arafura Wetlands). Her intricate and highly skilled works are made from naturally dyed pandanus and kurrajong plant materials sourced from the bush surrounding Ramingining, Arnhem Land. Her work embodies the traditional knowledge of the Yolngu Nation. The plant material is worked and treated in the ways passed on from ancestors and in doing, she recreates and identifies with sacred ceremonial objects which connect Yolngu to each other, to their past, their Creative Beings and to their Country.

Daphne harvests the youngest bunches of leaves from the top of the Gunga (pandanus spiralis) with a hooked long stick. The prickly edges stripped off with the thumb nail. Daphne returns to the bush to collect natural dyes from roots, leaves and grasses. The stripped pandanus is then boiled with the dye to create the variety of colours. The freshly dyed strips of pandanus are hung to drip-dry and are ready f or weaving whilst the fibres are still moist and pliable.