Yalpirakinu is Adrian’s mother’s country. Adrian’s mother is the late Eunice Napangardi, a well known painter herself. His artworks consistently refer to the desert mountains, ridges and trees which are part of Yalpirakinu. Using a restricted colour palette, Adrian’s brushwork is loaded with energy, drama and memories. He is a deliberate and thoughtful painter; reworking, pushing and pulling the image to completion.
Yalpirakinu is Adrian’s mother’s country. Adrian’s mother is the late Eunice Napangardi, a well known painter herself. His artworks consistently refer to the desert mountains, ridges and trees which are part of Yalpirakinu. Using a restricted colour palette, Adrian’s brushwork is loaded with energy, drama and memories. He is a deliberate and thoughtful painter; reworking, pushing and pulling the image to completion.
Yalpirakinu is Adrian’s mother’s country. Adrian’s mother is the late Eunice Napangardi, a well known painter herself. His artworks consistently refer to the desert mountains, ridges and trees which are part of Yalpirakinu. Using a restricted colour palette, Adrian’s brushwork is loaded with energy, drama and memories. He is a deliberate and thoughtful painter; reworking, pushing and pulling the image to completion.
Hot dry summer, mirage glowing in the distance
Animals seeking water. Old crow watching over.
Mun-dirra, in Burarra language, means “fish fence”. Mun-dirra were traditionally made by men using coastal sedge grass called gurdagarra and were designed to fence in schools of fish in ocean shallows or riverbeds. They were used in conjunction with conical traps, called an-gujechiya, which are woven with mirlarl, a hardy jungle vine, and burdaga, the sinewy inner bark from Kurrajong trees.
Fish traps and fish fences have been used throughout west and central Arnhem Land by various language groups; in Kuninjku, people call them kunkarlewabe (fish fence) and mandjabu (fish trap).
Artist Doreen Jinggarrabarra explains, “In the old days, they didn’t have any casting nets, [so] they made a fish trap and a long fence net, [put] them side to side, and put the fish trap in the middle. Then the fish came and went in the fish trap.”
To make a fish trap (an-gujechiya), jungle vine (mirlarl) is soaked in water for one night to make it soft. Then, the structural form of the fishtrap would be worked on, with hibiscus (bardainy) rings fashioned inside to keep the fish trap’s shape. Kurrajong string (burdaga) would be made to attach the inner rings and to tie the conical end of the fish trap closed. This fish trap is used in both saltwater and freshwater.
The fish fences (mun-dirra) would be set up across rivers and creeks, with the fish trap (an-gujechiya) placed in the middle of the two fences. Sticks, rocks, mud and grass would be used to hold the fences in position and funnel the fish into the trap. This ingenious system could catch fish like saltwater barramundi (rajarra), freshwater barramundi (janambal), small black freshwater catfish (buliya), bonefish (an-guwirrpiya), and sand bass (dalakan).
Doreen remembers seeing the traps in riverbeds around Maningrida when she was young: “The older ladies and the older men [would] usually go down, say about seven or eight o’clock, to go and check the trap. Maybe seven fish can go in, crabs and catfish,” she recalls.
Today, people generally use fishing lines and casting nets for fishing, but the woven traps and fences continue to be made as works of art. Women are now considered the knowledge holders, and are leaders in the development of sophisticated examples of woven design and material culture.
*Maningrida Arts & Culture acknowledges the work of many academic and non-academic voices when writing on this topic. It is important to note Anna Freeland and Myles Russell-Cook, whose writing have informed this text.
Didjeridus from this region are made in the West Arnhem style. Called Mago, they’re different and special and follow the tradition made famous by Beswick’s Mago Master, elder David Blanasi.
Ghunmarn didjeridus are sourced on country, and hand cut from Woolybutt trees. Artists travel considerable distances on foot to find the right woolybutt tree naturally hollowed out by termites. Good instruments are hand-cut and taken back to camp to be worked, shaped, sanded, tuned and then finally painted.
These are top quality musical instruments, highly regarded worldwide, and still used in ceremony and performance today. Featuring traditional designs handed painted with a Jarlk grass brush.
Most Ghunamrn didjeridus are high pitch D, low pitch D, F, C or G. The longer the dij the lower the pitch, a shorter didj will give a higher sound.
Wood carving has always been part of Aboriginal culture. Men carved wood for many purposes – tools for hunting or gathering food, axes and knives for building shelters, spears and clubs for protection of their lives and territory, objects for ceremony and to mark sacred sites.
Artists source the timber on country, walking from tree to tree to find the right piece for the desired functional outcome. Once found, it is cut and then brought back to camp to be worked, shaped, sanded and finally finished.
Clapsticks are used in traditional ceremony and dance as a percussion instrument to accompany Mago (didjeridu). Denser woods such as Ironwood or Kerosene wood are preferred due to their crisper clap sound. Clapsticks can be left raw or painted and decorated. Straight timber from younger trees is preferred as it requires less work to make functional.
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.
These finely crafted woven figures represent Mukuy Spirit creatures. The Mukuy belong in Yirritja country called Galanbirni. At night you might hear them playing the Didjeridu. The Mukuy travel around a lot and are often found in sacred places. They are mysterious, sometimes playful and sometimes cheeky characters, often referred to as Devil Devil. Mukuy figures tell the stories of country, culture and spiritual beliefs.