Coneflowers come in many shapes, and their pretty, pollen-rich blooms attract dragonflies and other beneficial pollinators.
Art Centre notes:
Paper size: 39 x 27cm
The artwork is a drypoint method printed on Hahnamule paper 100% cotton rag with strong archival properties.
Artist: Helen-Joy Tomsana
Printer: Dian Darmansjah
Printed: Moa Arts Studio, Jan 2025
Coneflowers come in many shapes, and their pretty, pollen-rich blooms attract dragonflies and other beneficial pollinators.
Art Centre notes:
Paper size: 39 x 27cm
The artwork is a drypoint method printed on Hahnamule paper 100% cotton rag with strong archival properties.
Artist: Helen-Joy Tomsana
Printer: Dian Darmansjah
Printed: Moa Arts Studio, Jan 2025
Brilliant and gorgeous appearance.
Art Centre notes:
Paper size: 39 x 27cm
The artwork is a drypoint method printed on Hahnamule paper 100% cotton rag with strong archival properties.
Artist: Helen-Joy Tomsana
Printer: Dian Darmansjah
Printed: Moa Arts Studio, Jan 2025
The magic in new beginnings is truly the most powerful of them all.
Art Centre notes:
Paper size: 39 x 27cm
The artwork is a drypoint method printed on Hahnamule paper 100% cotton rag with strong archival properties.
Artist: Helen-Joy Tomsana
Printer: Dian Darmansjah
Printed: Moa Arts Studio, Jan 2025
Artist Semeria Wurrkidj has depicted Milmilngkan, an outstation some 50km inland from Maningrida, and home of her late father, John Mawurndjul AM. It is a picturesque site near a billabong, and it is said that underneath the water lies the power of Ngalyod (the rainbow serpent). Semeria depicts the power of the place with rarrk (cross-hatching) which contains Mardayin power.
Kuninjku people say there are two Rainbow serpents. One is Yingarna, who is said to have been the original creator of all ancestral beings, the ‘first mother’. Yingarna’s first born is Ngaloyd. Yingarna, or her son Ngalyod, are a common subject on contemporary Kuninjku bark paintings.
Ngalyod is very important in Kuninjku cosmology and is associated with the creation of all sacred sites, djang, in Kuninjku clan lands. For example, ancestral stories relate how creator or ancestral beings had travelled across the country and had angered Ngalyod who swallowed them and returned to the earth to create the site. Today, Ngalyod protects these sites, and its power is present in each one.
Ngalyod has both powers of creation and destruction and is most strongly associated with rain, monsoon seasons and rainbows which are a manifestation of Ngalyod’s power and presence. Ngalyod is associated with the destructive power of the storms and with the plenty of the wet season, being both a destroyer and a giver of life. Ngalyod’s power controls the fertility of the country and the seasons.
I still hunt my Grand Mothers country for goanna, bush medicine and yams.
I hunt all year round, hunting and walking through the country makes me happy. When I look at the distant hills I can feel my grandmother. Bush flowers are everywhere.
Painting and printing my grandmother’s country reminds about those times.
Djilpin Arts is a not for profit Aboriginal Corporation that promotes the maintenance, development and transmission of traditional cultural knowledge systems.
Djilpin Arts specialises in art, live cultural performance, digital media, and produced the popular performance event – the Walking With Spirits Festival as well as Concerts on Country.
Djilpin Arts operates the Ghunmarn Culture Centre – home of the Blanasi Collection and offers fine arts & crafts for sale. Djilpin Arts operates an outlet in Katherine – Shed 5, where all works are sourced from Ghunmarn Culture Centre. Ghunmarn Culture Centre is in the Wugularr (Beswick) community of South East Arnhem Land.
All artworks are made by local artists living in the community. Artwork reflects the traditional songs and stories that have been passed down through the generations with a contemporary edge. Fibre art is a special feature of Djilpin Arts as is its Gapu Series of fine art prints.
Fibre Art is an ancient Aboriginal women’s craft that is still made today using the same techniques as their ancestors. Making fibre art is labour intensive and much care and fine needlework is required to ensure the finished object is both functional and beautiful. Fibre art from Ghunmarn Culture Centre includes dilly bags, floor mats, bush fans, woven creatures found in the landscape, plants such as yams (bush potato), baskets, place mats, and spirit figures such as mermaids and Mukuys. Natural pandanus fibre (Mukarra), is used to make much of the fibre art produced by the artists of Djilpin Arts. Women collect the pandanus by pulling from the top of the pandanus tree, then stripping and drying the leaves before they are dyed with natural bush colour collected from the Beswick surrounds.
Fibre Art is an ancient Aboriginal women’s craft that is still made today using the same techniques as their ancestors. Making fibre art is labour intensive and much care and fine needlework is required to ensure the finished object is both functional and beautiful. Fibre art from Ghunmarn Culture Centre includes dilly bags, floor mats, bush fans, woven creatures found in the landscape, plants such as yams (bush potato), baskets, place mats, and spirit figures such as mermaids and Mukuys. Natural pandanus fibre (Mukarra), is used to make much of the fibre art produced by the artists of Djilpin Arts. Women collect the pandanus by pulling from the top of the pandanus tree, then stripping and drying the leaves before they are dyed with natural bush colour collected from the Beswick surrounds.