‘This is a story from Mankorlod. This is a djang story. This is the creation story about the fresh water yabby. Starting with the stone, that’s the raw one and the cooked one. The stone rock suddenly turned to ngalng, in a flash. ngalng started growing and turned into a body. Its a magic one and it can change from rock to ngalng to human and back to ngalng. Now it’s a Ngalng.’ Janet Marawarr 2021
Name: Janet Marawarr
Language: Kune, Kuninjku
Community: Maningrida
Biography:
Janet is a senior Kuninjku artist at Babbarra Designs working with lino tiles and screen print designs. She is part of a new movement at Babbarra where artists are cutting out symbols and printing in a free form placement on a range of textile surfaces. Janet regards textile design as an opportunity to work with colour and new methods to express her djang (ancestral creator stories).
‘I like lino, print my design and doing different way to print my lino, different colours and different way. I print lino Yawkyawk (spirit woman) and. Ngaldjorlhbo (mother of Everything)This was an old lady and she create that language and the world before. I also print also Rolk (maggot), my mother design cause I’m the Djunkay (land manager) for her.’ Janet Marawarr 2020
As well as her artistic work with Bábbarra Women’s Centre, she is an established bark painter with Maningrida Arts & Crafts and she works for the Maningrida Night Patrol, a community safety service.
Kunkurra (Spiral Wind) ‘My designs, they are all alive living up in my head’- Janet Marawarr Janet Marawarr has depicted kunkurra, the spiralling wind associated with several sites in the Kardbam clan. On one level, Read more…
Kayawa (baby floor mat) and Lorrkon This design features the Lorrkkon tile by renowned artists and arts worker Raylene Bonson. In a hopscotch pattern, Joy has printed her own Kayawa (baby floor mat) in between.
Yawkyawk and Wak ‘Yawkyawk swim underneath the rock. They always stay there. When the sun comes out they come out from underneath the river, make themselves warm. They sit and they look around. When they Read more…