Murnubbarr (magpie geese) are a waterbird found in abundance in the wetland areas of Kakadu and western Arnhem Land. Murnubbarr are a sustainably hunted and enjoyed manme (bush food). They are known to fly long distances, particularly in the wet season.
Murnubbarr (magpie geese) are a waterbird found in abundance in the wetland areas of Kakadu and western Arnhem Land. Murnubbarr are a sustainably hunted and enjoyed manme (bush food). They are known to fly long distances, particularly in the wet season.
The mimih spirit exists in a realm that runs parallel to and mirrors many facets of human life, also demonstrating the deep sense of time and place understood by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Such spirits feature importantly in relation to Aboriginal spirituality, cosmology, social and moral tales as well as ritual. As is true with the multiple mediums employed by artists of West Arnhem Land, the development of artistic style and form is in line with an awareness by the artist that the work produced is predominantly made for a broader audience. Whether show in a national or international context these works communicate and exist in a particular space that is cross-cultural and simultaneously so particular to the Arnhem region.
The mimih sits within a complex and important pedagogical and religious body of knowledge which links Kuninjku people to their distinctive escarpment homelands. Young Kuninjku artists, or apprentices, employ the mimih as an important exercise for the practice of the rarrk technique, as it could be achieved on a smaller surface area before, being attempted in larger scale, on pieces of bark. The mimih serves a purpose for those young artists first learning to carve in a social space of sharing and innovating. The initial mimih manifestation was a large form that almost mirrored the anatomy of a human and at this stage the sculptures have been likened to morkuy carvings visible in eastern Arnhem Land. Contemporaneously, mimih are depicted in a refined, slender, even emaciated form with a broad range of facial expressions giving both individual character to, and denoting the potential volatility and humour that mimih spirits are notable for in their interaction with bininj (humans). The sculptures are frequently carved from the thin trunks of softwoods such as kapok (bombax ceiba or cottonwood) kurrajong, beach hibiscus or leichardt and are painted with earth pigments for their colouring and design.
A leading figure engaging the spirit in visual storytelling was Crusoe Kuningbal, a Kuninjku man, who while traveling was familiarised with carving styles from the east of Arnhem at the mission in Milingimbi pre-dating World War II. This showing a notable connection and interaction of different language groups across such space. As well as travel and the development of art forms being informed by cross cultural dialogues within northern Aboriginal language groups. The mimih became a valued inclusion in performance and public ceremony by Kuninjku people like Kuningbal. At times these ceremonies were performed for extended language groups in the local region.
Now a familiar and broadly depicted figure of iconography, it is important to acknowledge the development of this quite recent sculptural tradition. The depiction of this particular spirit being, once used as an addition to the sharing of song cycles and ceremony, has since been elevated to a prominent form and subject of contemporary sculpture. Variation in the creation of mimih acts as an indication of the individualism of each artist and their stylistic markers. Additionally significant to note is that in the space of the past thirty years the mimih has begun being produced by multiple language groups residing in the Maningrida area including the traditional owners of Maningrida, the Ndjébbana, speaking Kunibidji as well as Gurrgoni people who have strong ties to Kuninjku.
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*Maningrida Arts & Culture acknowledge the work of many academic and non-academic voices when writing on this topic, it is important to note Luke Taylor, who’s broad research has informed this text.
“This Kangaroo belongs to Yirridjdja moiety, you can see him on that kunwardde bim (rock painting). He’s big and red” – Ivan Namirrkki
Kandakidj is a lead creator celebrated in the Wubarr, Mardayin and Lorrkkon ceremonies. In these ceremonies, initiates are introduced to sacred artefacts that are considered parts of the body of Kandakidj. Artists often pay attention to represent these powerful items inside the body of their figures by decorating them in special ways.
Hunting kangaroos is a vital part of Kuninjku life and intimate knowledge of animal anatomy is formed through hunting and preparing food. However, in the ceremonial context, initiates learn that the Ancestral beings were also hunted and their body parts transformed into sacred objects and features of the landscape. These transformations retain a measure of the power of the original Djang. Initiates may be brought to visit these important sites and are shown the objects used in dances in the ceremony. Artists, such as Namirrkki, use their bark paintings as a means of revealing connections between these different realms of understanding and help to create coherence between different layers of Kuninjku knowledge.
Deborah Wurrkidj is a Kuninjku artist from the Kurulk clan whose country lies around the outstation of Mumeka in central Arnhem Land. She is an accomplished artist working across mediums including painting, sculpture, weaving and textile design. For this design, Deborah Wurrkidj has depicted Marebu (woven pandanus mats).
Works in fibre from the Maningrida region are widely recognised as some of the finest in Australia. Artists confidently push the boundaries of fibre craft and cultural expression, adapting traditional techniques and forms to produce strikingly inventive and aesthetically exquisite artworks.
Artists weave many different kinds of mats. Conical mats were traditionally used to shield babies from mosquitoes. Long flat mats were used for blocking creeks so that fish would be diverted into fish traps. A small triangular mat made of pandanus fibre used to be worn by women during ceremonial gatherings, tied around their back and covering them at the front. Mats are also used for wrapping and rinsing food in water.
Artists usually use kundayarr, pandanus spiralis, to weave decorative round or oblong mats, as well as the less common triangular and conical shapes. Weaving is physically hard work, now done only by women. They colour the pandanus using natural dyes made from the roots, leaves or flowers of plants within the weaver’s clan estate.
The radial woven patterns of the finest round mats appear to vibrate with colour, sometimes regarded as an aesthetic manifestation of deep cultural meaning, as there is a significant spiritual dimension to pandanus mats.
‘Bawáliba is the djang (Dreaming) of my mother and my uncles. They are good spirits, they protect us and they recognise families. They are really tall- just like human beings, like us. They dance late at night and have a lot of hair.
In olden times, long long long time ago Bawáliba were here, before people were on the land. Bawáliba used to go out hunting and care for country. They hunt carrying fish traps and digging sticks, near the homeland Djinkarr. They go out hunting on the floodplains with dilly bags and digging sticks. They collect a lot of bush foods, and sleep together with one bark shelter.
Sometimes now they still come alive when we sleep, they might come to our houses and peep through the window. At night, they cover themselves with white clay and red cloth tied around their waist. If we hear them, we jump out of bed and get up to look -but they have disappeared, they’re just too quick. Bawáliba might knock on the window to remind us they are there looking out for us.If you listen deeply you can hear them whisper, sometimes they talk about us and might say, ‘why are those people making camp here?’ then they realise ‘Oh they are family from here, it’s ok, they are just sleeping here for the night’.
During the day they always turn into stone and they sleep. We still know that green rock covered in moss near Djinkarr, that’s Bawáliba sleeping.
Some of my ancestors used to speak the same language as the Bawaliba, but all those old people are passed away now. It’s a little bit sad for us, because no one now can speak that Bawaliba language anymore.’ Lucy Yarawanga 2019
In Kuninjku the name manbirrbbirr is used for a number of densely flowering shrubs and small trees including Verticordia cunninghamii, yellow flowering Austromyrtus species and also Acacia platycarpa which also has dense white.
This artwork has been printed on bush dyed linen hand dyed by Deborah Wurrkidj. The printing was done by Apphia Wurrkidj at Babbarra Designs with hand cut Lino tiles by her sister Jennifer Wurrkidj. Three sisters contributed to the creation of this cloth.
In Kuninjku the name manbirrbbirr is used for a number of densely flowering shrubs and small trees including Verticordia cunninghamii, yellow flowering Austromyrtus species and also Acacia platycarpa which also has dense white.
This artwork has been printed on bush dyed linen hand dyed by Deborah Wurrkidj. The printing was done by Apphia Wurrkidj at Babbarra Designs with hand cut Lino tiles by her sister Jennifer Wurrkidj. Three sisters contributed to the creation of this cloth.
Ndjébbana:
Njá-barawarra na-míbba hammerhead shark. Sphyrna spp. Gender: djíya; Moiety: Djówanga; Generic (big name): djábbarnbókka ‘sharks’.