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Jakapiri

“Jakapiri is a plant found in the sand dunes, they used to make sandals with it.”

– Morika Biljabu

This work portrays an area known intimately to the artist, painted here in exquisite detail from memory. During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era one’s survival depended on their intimate knowledge of the location of resources; thus physical elements of Country, such as sources of kapi (water), tali (sandhills), and different varieties of warta (trees, vegetation) were carefully observed and remembered. Today, this relationship with Country remains equally strong, despite the movement of Martu out of the desert and into remote Aboriginal Communities, towns and cities.

Also visible may be traces of life cycles based around kalyu (rain, water) and waru (fire). A thousands of year old practice, fire burning continues to be carried out as both an aid for hunting and a means of land management today. As the Martu travelled and hunted they would burn tracts of land, ensuring plant and animal biodiversity and reducing the risk of unmanageable, spontaneous bush fires. The patchwork nature of regrowth is visible in many landscape works, with each of the five distinctive phases of fire burning visually described with respect to the cycle of burning and regrowth.  

Finally, metaphysical information relating to a location may also be recorded; Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives chronicle the creation of physical landmarks, and can be referenced through depictions of ceremonial sites, songlines, and markers left in the land. 

Categories: Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

Name: Morika Biljabu

Language: Manyjilyjarra

Community: Punmu

Biography:

"I was born in Port Hedland in January 1988, my skin is Purungu. I’m a Martu girl. My first language is Manyjilyjarra and my second language is English. I grew up in Parnngurr and Punmu communities. When I was young, I didn’t know what was out in the desert. Even when I first took photos of Martu people, I didn’t really know what was going on. When the old people all started painting, I asked them what they were doing and they told me where their country was and taught me the country stories. I really love taking photos of the old people and they have been giving me a better idea of what they are doing when they paint. That was how I learned about the history of the Canning Stock Route and how they all lived in the desert. How they survived there. They all helped me a little bit. They helped me understand how I am connected to their paintings and related to all the families through the skin groups and how we are all connected to the country. It’s a big country. All the people seem to paint different stories, but it’s the same story underneath. We’re really all one people, with one big story and one big country." Morika has been assisting her grandmother, Jakayu Biljabu, on a series of significant works and learning more about her country. In 2009, Morika was nominated for the Prix Pictet, an international prize devoted to photography and sustainability.

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