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Djomi Swamp (unframed)

This design depicts the story of the artist’s ancestral dreaming, the Djomi fresh water spirit mermaid. 

‘i’ve made a djomi swamp. It’s down the beach on the sea side. There are djomi creeks going down into the fish bowl. There is shallow sand  – white and yellow.  there are two ngarndúma  (palm trees) and lots of bush flowers and grass. We have 5 houses next to djomi on  the cliff  above the beach. The houses are the new houses – the blue house has Esther, the yellow one has Millie, the red one has Steven and my cousin Selina is in the brown one.  We are the Kunibidji people staying there down the creek next to Djomi.’

The Djomi figure is a mermaid like spirit with fish tail that lives in the fresh water stream that flows out to the sea cliff near Maningrida. Djomi is a known to be a very powerful fertility symbol.

This Djomi is my dreaming, I got permission from my djunguys to paint this Djomi design. For me I always ask my djunguy permission to paint, because that is our cultural way.

Name: Joy Garlbin


Language: Ndjébbana


Community: Maningrida


Biography:

Joy is an integral member of the Bábbarra Women’s Centre and traditional owner of Maningrida.

She has been around since the early years of Bábbarra Women’s Centre. Joy is a textile artist and also a highly regarded bark painter, creator of mimi spirits, as well as weaver of pandanus fibre.

Joy depicts the story of her ancestral dreaming the Djomi in her textile work, with permission from her djunguys.

Joy is a Kunibidji woman.  She speaks Kunibidji and Ndjébbana. These languages are one language but with hard and soft tonal differences. Ndjébbana is one of the least commonly spoken languages in Arnhem Land and is the language of the traditional owners of Maningrida.


© the artist / art centre