April 2023

Mabbúlarr – Murnun

Featuring murnun (dugong) and yokkara (fish)

This new 2022 design by Josephine is part two of her Mabbúlarr collection. 

Mabbúlarr is the Ndjébbana word describing calm and stillness – both regarding people and the ocean.

Printed by hand at Injalak Art Centre 2022 using cotton poplin (sarong weight).

This design tells the story of underwater life in the shallows. The turtle we call marláddja (green turtle, Chelonia mydas) and the stingray we call marnandjúbba (Cowtail Stingray, Pastinachus sephen).

‘When strong wind blows the sea is rough, when there’s no wind the sea is calm. We call that mábbularr. You can see through the water and look at the turtle and stingray eating karlómerr (sea grass) and dancing underwater to find their mate. When we go on the boat hunting, we go at times of mábbularr.

In the old days men used to hunt with a canoe and with traditional made harpoon.  Guided by our ancestors’ spirits they would paddle all day to find sea turtle and dugongs in the right places. The men had to be smart for the tide and know the weather to balance their canoes. They would go at times of mábbularr (calm), early morning in daytime or at night-time when there is no moon and the water glows. We call the night-time glimmer of phosphorescence mílarrng-milarrng. Today people still go hunting, it brings a lot of families together and they share eating down the beach.

We have songline for sea turtle, also men paint turtle on their back and dance turtle in the Míddjarn the same way turtle dance underwater. It is very important we look after our country and songline passed on from many generations’. Josephine James 2021

Au-gujechiya (fishtrap)

Au-gujechiya (fishtrap) sometimes portrayed with an-maka (cowtail stingray), rajarra (barramundi) and other fish inside. 

Elizabeth has permission from her djunkay to draw this historic and important object traditionally used to trap fish in rivers, creeks and estuaries. In the early wet season they swim upstream for breeding in creeks and billabongs, then downstream to spend the dry season in larger rivers. The traps would be set to face the oncoming fish, with woven fencing either side. Within the mouth of the trap is a woven funnel that guides the fish in and prevents their escape. The clever design ensures that only adult fish are caught as smaller fish can escape through the weaving or even through the funnel. The fish that are caught can survive in the trap for up to two months. Once the trap is removed, the end is untied to remove the fish. This sustainable design means the trap can be used again and again.

Elizabeth is from the Burrarra language group and her homeland is Gupanga, Arnhem Land.  

Eiffel tower and the Maladj spirit

“I want to tell you about my design, that Eiffel tower one.

This year it was my first time going to Paris. I didn’t know that place, nothing. We travelled around the world to get there, we flew underneath the world in an aeroplane.

Paris was a big, crowded city. They speak a different language there, just like here in Maningrida with all our different languages.

The Bábbarra artists and Ingrid, we were all walking around, like tourists. We went on the boat in the Paris river. There was a film crew taking videos of us. We saw so many beautiful buildings covered with black string (iron balconies) and big statues. We’d never seen things like that before.

I remember when we got off that boat and I looked up and saw that tower. When I first looked up at that tower, it made me happy- it’s so long up into the sky. We walked towards it. I was standing there watching that tower and thinking, ‘wow, first time for me seeing a tower like that’.

Then I was thinking, and I said to myself, when I go back to my own country, I’m going to paint that tower.

We came to Maningrida, I started to draw. I drew that tower from France, but also I drew maladj (stone country orphan spirit), women’s sacred woven mat, fish traps and rolk (insects). I also put round kunngol (clouds) in the design, those circles. That maladj spirit, it’s standing there next to the Eiffel tower, looking at the dancing lights at night. The tower is from Paris, but everything else in my design I took from my mother’s country and my father’s country.

Maybe one day I’ll travel back to France, and take my design with me to show them, all the French mob.” Janet Marawarr

Kunwardde dja Karrbarda (Rocks and Yam Vine)

Susan Marawarr is a Kuninjku artist from the Kurulk clan whose country lies around the outstation of Mumeka in central Arnhem Land. In this design, she has depicted karrbarda (long yam) on her traditional country, the kunwardde (stone country).

The large stones represent the kunwardde rocky outcrops, which are elevated above the flat floodplains. The vines creeping around the large rocks are from the karrbarda. Women dig up karrbarda with kungarrndutj (digging sticks) and they are then cooked in the ashes of the fire to be eaten.

These yams are purple on the saltwater side of country and on inland freshwater country they are white. Karrbarda are an important manme (bush food) that are collected during the wet and dry seasons.