A new design by Lucy celebrating her love of eating mudcrab.
Mududu is mudcrab in the Gurgoni language.
‘I feel good waking up in the morning, knowing I am going to Bábbarra. After work I go home and talk about my printing with all my family, and then I dream about it too. I am always thinking about my designs. They make me feel so proud.” – Lucy Yarawanga.
This story depicts Bush Medicine, our families have for along time used bush medicine to heal our mob when they are un well,This tradition is passed down from our ancestors.we take care of country and our bush medicine. The Elders would take us out as children to learn culture and respect of the land ,we follow the tradition today teaching our children.
‘My Kikka (mother), when she was alive, she would tell me these stories. I was just a little girl and she would tell us the stories in her language Gurrgoni.
In the camps there were boy and girl Bawaliba, and old Bawaliba too. They loved to dance by the firelight, keeping rhythm with a stick. They had lots of hair, they were really tall and skinny, with spots on their bodies. The Bawaliba lived a long time in peace. They were the only spirits on their country and so they were never disturbed.
One day, a long time ago, the Bawaliba were out hunting and they saw a large snake- they didn’t know then but she was the Rainbow Serpent. They were really scared, they had never seen that. creature before. She was really beautiful- like a normal king brown snake but with a rainbow from the sky on her back. The rainbow serpent was really hungry, and she could smell the Bawaliba from a long way away. She was out looking for food. The Bawaliba tried to stop Ngalyod coming for them but she was just too quick. She snuck up behind the Bawaliba and before they could get away she ate them up. When she was really full and couldn’t eat anymore Bawaliba she changed the rest of them into stone. Still til this day, the Bawaliba stay on that same country as stones.’ Lucy Yarawanga
Karrinung kukurlk kare, karrijare manme (we are going underground looking for food).
“This is my country. In this painting, I’m looking at her little bit different way. This is what we see when we’re kukurlk kare (going underground)
Man-kurndalh (Black plum) I call mother. It is my mother’s Djang/Dreaming. The bush onion (kulumuduk) is white, the same as onions you buy at the store. We don’t eat this one though, it’s poison.
Wayuk is the water lily, with the big root growing in the earth. This is when that water is drying up a bit. There are worms and beetles- this is what we see underground, when we are digging for manme.”
-Jennifer Wurrkidj
One of Lucy’s latest linocut designs, Romolo, green frog.
Lucy is an experienced textile artist at Bábbarra Women’s Centre. Lucy often references her ancestral stories in her textile work, including Bawaliba (Djinkarr spirit woman), with various lino and screen prints depicting this same narrative.
Lucy is from the Gurr.goni language group – one of the least commonly spoken languages in Arnhem Land. Lucy also speaks another eight Maningrida languages.
Kunmadj is the Kuninjku term for large woven collecting baskets, known as dillybags.
They are often made from the burney vine (Malaisia scandens), a strong, pliable plant that grows along the ground and into the canopy of monsoon vine thickets. The baskets are used to collect a variety of heavy foods, such as fish caught in conical fish traps or a good harvest of yams. As well as being of practical use, dillybags are of cultural significance to Arnhem Land people. Dillybags are totemic objects and they are associated with particular sites in the landscape.
A new design by Lucy celebrating her love of eating mudcrab.
Mududu is mudcrab in the Gurgoni language.
‘I feel good waking up in the morning, knowing I am going to Bábbarra. After work I go home and talk about my printing with all my family, and then I dream about it too. I am always thinking about my designs. They make me feel so proud.” – Lucy Yarawanga.
