Djamo (dog) The djamo (dog) holds special mythological as well as practical significance for people of Central Arnhem land, particularly women. The men used to go hunting with a spear and the women with a dog. If the men didn’t catch a kangaroo, the women would catch a goanna. If neither Read more…
Djamo (dog) The djamo (dog) holds special mythological as well as practical significance for people of Central Arnhem land, particularly women. The men used to go hunting with a spear and the women with a dog. If the men didn’t catch a kangaroo, the women would catch a goanna. If neither Read more…
Rduh (Possum) Throughout the 1990s, artists Lena Yarinkura and her mother Lena Djammarrayku (now deceased) diverged from the more conventional fibre work of their contemporaries, extending traditional weaving techniques and materials to make new ambitious and innovative sculptural forms. Yarinkura applied the dilly bag, fish trap and coil basket weaving Read more…
Kun-madj – large dillybag vine Kun-madj, or dilly bag, is a large woven collecting basket. These large bags are often made from the vine ‘Malasia scandens’, a strong pliable plant which grows along the floor and into the canopy of monsoon vine thickets. The bags are used to collect any Read more…
Mandjabu Kuninjku people traditionally make two sorts of conical fish traps. One called Mandjabu made from milil a vine. And another smaller one called manyilk Mandjabu, made from the grass manylik. The milil conical fish trap is bigger and stronger and used in tidal reaches of creeks to catch large Read more…
Wak Wak This painting depicts a sacred site at ‘Kurrurldul’, an outstation south of Maningrida. The ‘rarrk’, or abstract crosshatching, on this work represents the design for the crow totem ancestor called ‘Djimarr’. Today this being exists in the form of a rock, which is permanently submerged at the bottom Read more…
Akana Ngurpay (Grandmothers teachings) My grandmother’s teachings and values in weaving were rooted in patience, precision, and a deep respect for tradition. She believed that weaving was more than just a craft; it was a way to connect with the past, and express creativity. Every piece she created told a Read more…
Akana Ngurpay (Grandmothers teaching) My grandmother’s teachings and values in weaving were rooted in patience, precision, and a deep respect for tradition. She believed that weaving was more than just a craft; it was a way to connect with the past, and express creativity. Every piece she created told a Read more…
Kunkurra (Spiral Wind) – Margot Margot 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. Kunkurra also relates specifically to a Read more…
Maisie Petyarre Bundey – Bush Tucker Maisie paints the bush tucker found in her country, the area that surrounds Boundary Bore in the Utopia homelands. She paints bush plums, bush bananas, bush potatoes and bush medicine plants. The main motif which recurs often in Maisie artworks is a full coolamon. When Read more…