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Published by on February 20, 2023

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, this design can be interpreted as a depiction of the kinds of mini-cyclones common during the wet season in Arnhem Land, where the artist lives. Kunkurra also relates specifically to a site called Bilwoyinj, near Mankorlod, on the artist’s clan estate.

At this site, two of the most important Kuninjku creation beings, a father and son known as na-korrkko, are believed to have hunted and eaten a goanna. They left some of the goanna fat behind at the site, which turned into the rock that still stands there today.

Bilwoyinj site is also a ceremonial ground for a ceremony called Yabbaduruwa, a major ceremony owned by the Yirridja patrimoiety. The Yabbaduruwa ceremony is primarily concerned with initiation, land ownership and promoting the cyclical regeneration of the human and natural worlds.

Categories: Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation

Name: Janet Marawarr

Language: Kune, Kuninjku

Community: Maningrida

Biography:

Janet Marawarr is a senior Kuninjku artist at Babbarra Designs working across Lino and screen print on fabric. Marawarr regards textile design as an opportunity to work with colour and new methods to express her djang (ancestral creation stories). In 2019 she travelled to Paris to launch the touring exhibition, Jarracharra ( Dry Season Wind) of which her work featured. In 2022 she travelled to LA where her work was exhibited with Aboriginal Screen-Printed Textiles from Australia’s Top End at Fowler Museum, UCLA.

In January 2023 Marawarr was invited by the Australian Consul- General, Kolkata to explore the textile region of West Bengal as a guest of honour. She participated in a 10 day tour of the region sharing knowledge with other women’s groups including the Bridging Culture and Art Foundation Kantha studio in Tushkhali, Sundarbans; the Sadaf India Studio and the Navajeevan Co-operative Society in Jajpur, Odisha.

As well as her textile designs with Bábbarra Women’s Centre, Marawarr is an established bark painter with Maningrida Arts & Crafts and she works for the Maningrida Night Patrol, a community safety service.

‘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

'I saw them old people, doing only lino with bush dye, no screen printing. I was eighteen [years old]. I’m 60 now [...] 40 years.
I was just watching my mum, she would weave baskets. And also I saw my grandfather painting, ma [(‘ma’ is an interjection meaning ‘okay’ or ‘time to act’ depending on context)] . One day I learned from my grandfather. I love printing and linocuts – printing my designs on textiles.' Janet Marawarr for Artlink 2023

© the artist / art centre