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…
Strong Family Connection This is a story of how life was before. It’s a beautiful landscape without problems like we have today. There were no problems then, people were happy. They were connected as families. It shows what life was like for our people in the past before we had Read more…
Wititj and Two Sisters There were two sisters out hunting lizards with their dog when they found Brolga eggs. They started cooking when a quoll approached them. One of the sisters wanted to keep the quoll but the other sister warned that it was dangerous and would bring trouble. Then Read more…