Blog

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Eiffel tower and the Maladj spirit

“I want to tell you about my design, that Eiffel tower one.

This year it was my first time going to Paris. I didn’t know that place, nothing. We travelled around the world to get there, we flew underneath the world in an aeroplane.

Paris was a big, crowded city. They speak a different language there, just like here in Maningrida with all our different languages.

The Bábbarra artists and Ingrid, we were all walking around, like tourists. We went on the boat in the Paris river. There was a film crew taking videos of us. We saw so many beautiful buildings covered with black string (iron balconies) and big statues. We’d never seen things like that before.

I remember when we got off that boat and I looked up and saw that tower. When I first looked up at that tower, it made me happy- it’s so long up into the sky. We walked towards it. I was standing there watching that tower and thinking, ‘wow, first time for me seeing a tower like that’.

Then I was thinking, and I said to myself, when I go back to my own country, I’m going to paint that tower.

We came to Maningrida, I started to draw. I drew that tower from France, but also I drew maladj (stone country orphan spirit), women’s sacred woven mat, fish traps and rolk (insects). I also put round kunngol (clouds) in the design, those circles. That maladj spirit, it’s standing there next to the Eiffel tower, looking at the dancing lights at night. The tower is from Paris, but everything else in my design I took from my mother’s country and my father’s country.

Maybe one day I’ll travel back to France, and take my design with me to show them, all the French mob.” Janet Marawarr

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Djenj dja Wayuk

Djenj dja Wayuk (Fish and Waterlilies)

Designed in 2008 by respected Kunibidji artist, Doreen Williams. 

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Djenj dja Wayuk

Djenj dja Wayuk (Fish and Waterlilies)

Designed in 2008 by respected Kunibidji artist, Doreen Williams. 

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Murnun (dugong) Mabbúlarr

Featuring murnun (dugong) and yokkara (fish)

This new 2022 design by Josephine is part two of her Mabbúlarr collection. 

Mabbúlarr is the Ndjébbana word describing calm and stillness – both regarding people and the ocean.

Printed by hand at Injalak Art Centre 2022 using cotton poplin (sarong weight).

This design tells the story of underwater life in the shallows. The turtle we call marláddja (green turtle, Chelonia mydas) and the stingray we call marnandjúbba (Cowtail Stingray, Pastinachus sephen).

‘When strong wind blows the sea is rough, when there’s no wind the sea is calm. We call that mábbularr. You can see through the water and look at the turtle and stingray eating karlómerr (sea grass) and dancing underwater to find their mate. When we go on the boat hunting, we go at times of mábbularr.

In the old days men used to hunt with a canoe and with traditional made harpoon.  Guided by our ancestors’ spirits they would paddle all day to find sea turtle and dugongs in the right places. The men had to be smart for the tide and know the weather to balance their canoes. They would go at times of mábbularr (calm), early morning in daytime or at night-time when there is no moon and the water glows. We call the night-time glimmer of phosphorescence mílarrng-milarrng. Today people still go hunting, it brings a lot of families together and they share eating down the beach.

We have songline for sea turtle, also men paint turtle on their back and dance turtle in the Míddjarn the same way turtle dance underwater. It is very important we look after our country and songline passed on from many generations’. Josephine James 2021

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Murnun (dugong) Mabbúlarr

Featuring murnun (dugong) and yokkara (fish)

This new 2022 design by Josephine is part two of her Mabbúlarr collection. 

Mabbúlarr is the Ndjébbana word describing calm and stillness – both regarding people and the ocean.

Printed by hand at Injalak Art Centre 2022 using cotton poplin (sarong weight).

This design tells the story of underwater life in the shallows. The turtle we call marláddja (green turtle, Chelonia mydas) and the stingray we call marnandjúbba (Cowtail Stingray, Pastinachus sephen).

‘When strong wind blows the sea is rough, when there’s no wind the sea is calm. We call that mábbularr. You can see through the water and look at the turtle and stingray eating karlómerr (sea grass) and dancing underwater to find their mate. When we go on the boat hunting, we go at times of mábbularr.

In the old days men used to hunt with a canoe and with traditional made harpoon.  Guided by our ancestors’ spirits they would paddle all day to find sea turtle and dugongs in the right places. The men had to be smart for the tide and know the weather to balance their canoes. They would go at times of mábbularr (calm), early morning in daytime or at night-time when there is no moon and the water glows. We call the night-time glimmer of phosphorescence mílarrng-milarrng. Today people still go hunting, it brings a lot of families together and they share eating down the beach.

We have songline for sea turtle, also men paint turtle on their back and dance turtle in the Míddjarn the same way turtle dance underwater. It is very important we look after our country and songline passed on from many generations’. Josephine James 2021

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Wubbunj (Paperbark Canoe)

“Wubbunj is our traditional canoe. This design is the old history story of how people came to live in this place we call Maningrida. Two old people were staying on the other side of the saltwater, in Narlarrambarr area. The old people slept in a paper bark shelter and hunted on the water using their canoe.

A long time ago our people carved these canoes from the big paperbark trees. They had paddles with one person at the front, one at back, and other kids and passengers in the middle. Kunkot (paper bark) was used to make the sails which they would stand up and catch the wind.

One day these old people saw a new boat in their waters, which belonged to the Makassans (Indonesians). Those two old men saw the big Makassan boat coming in, and decided to paddle their canoe from Narlarrambarr to the other side (modern day Maningrida). We were scared of the Makassans, they gave us tobacco and tea, but they took many of our women.

When those two old people tasted that water at Maningrida from the Djomi spring, it was sweet freshwater and they decided to stay here. People here had no clothes in those time, we were just wearing string morkoi (loin cloths). Seven tribes were here then, but now in Maningrida there are lots more languages.” – Raylene Bonson

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Wubbunj (Paperbark Canoe)

“Wubbunj is our traditional canoe. This design is the old history story of how people came to live in this place we call Maningrida. Two old people were staying on the other side of the saltwater, in Narlarrambarr area. The old people slept in a paper bark shelter and hunted on the water using their canoe.

A long time ago our people carved these canoes from the big paperbark trees. They had paddles with one person at the front, one at back, and other kids and passengers in the middle. Kunkot (paper bark) was used to make the sails which they would stand up and catch the wind.

One day these old people saw a new boat in their waters, which belonged to the Makassans (Indonesians). Those two old men saw the big Makassan boat coming in, and decided to paddle their canoe from Narlarrambarr to the other side (modern day Maningrida). We were scared of the Makassans, they gave us tobacco and tea, but they took many of our women.

When those two old people tasted that water at Maningrida from the Djomi spring, it was sweet freshwater and they decided to stay here. People here had no clothes in those time, we were just wearing string morkoi (loin cloths). Seven tribes were here then, but now in Maningrida there are lots more languages.” – Raylene Bonson

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Kayawa (baby floor mat)

A round design depicting a small pandanus floor mat used to nurse a baby. 

This fabric was created using the linocut printing technique. The lino tile has been carved by the artist in Maningrida, and has been printed by hand using a variety of colours and layers. The linocut technique ensures each textile piece is a one-off, limited edition piece. Bábbarra Women’s Centre supports the economic independence of Indigenous women in the Arnhem Land community of Maningrida, Northern Territory, Australia. Designs created by the women at Bábbarra reflect strong cultural knowledge, which is passed down to younger generations through their textile design practice.

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Na-méwaya (triangle fish net)

*Ndjébbana 

A small fishing net or butterfly net of a traditional triangular design. 

 

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Marebu

Deborah Wurrkidj is a Kuninjku artist from the Kurulk clan whose country lies around the outstation of Mumeka in central Arnhem Land. She is an accomplished artist working across mediums including painting, sculpture, weaving and textile design. For this design, Deborah Wurrkidj has depicted Marebu (woven pandanus mats).

Works in fibre from the Maningrida region are widely recognised as some of the finest in Australia. Artists confidently push the boundaries of fibre craft and cultural expression, adapting traditional techniques and forms to produce strikingly inventive and aesthetically exquisite artworks.

Artists weave many different kinds of mats. Conical mats were traditionally used to shield babies from mosquitoes. Long flat mats were used for blocking creeks so that fish would be diverted into fish traps. A small triangular mat made of pandanus fibre used to be worn by women during ceremonial gatherings, tied around their back and covering them at the front. Mats are also used for wrapping and rinsing food in water.

Artists usually use kundayarr, pandanus spiralis, to weave decorative round or oblong mats, as well as the less common triangular and conical shapes. Weaving is physically hard work, now done only by women. They colour the pandanus using natural dyes made from the roots, leaves or flowers of plants within the weaver’s clan estate.

The radial woven patterns of the finest round mats appear to vibrate with colour, sometimes regarded as an aesthetic manifestation of deep cultural meaning, as there is a significant spiritual dimension to pandanus mats.