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JUWARKJIL (NIGHT BIRD)

Bessie tells the story of this painting, “At night when Aboriginal people hear the sound of this bird they tell the children to go to sleep early, be quiet and not to sit near the fire.  If this bird hears the sound of a child or catches the child’s spirit.  When the bird gets the childd’s spirit it takes the spirit away to its home and smashes its skull and it eats the brains out.  So when a child is sick the old people put gurugnuny (bush vicks) in dilly bags around the child’s neck and make a bed of gurugnuny so the child sleeps on it.  Then at the same time the child is smoked with biliny (river gum tree). This is done all day and night until the child gets better.  Sometimes a child can die if it is done later.  When the spirit of the child is taken away the child gets skinny, its eyes are sunken in and the chld eats its own faeces, charcoal and any sort of rubbish.  It grows up skinny, doesn’t put on any weight and sometimes, the child is not looked after properly, it dies.”

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Pilbara Hills

In our country we have many hills of all different shapes and sizes. When driving through country at different times the colours change and some of the hills look like velvet in the evening and morning light .

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Flower Pot and Butterfly

Danii Rae has a distinctive style and uses vibrant colours to create her artworks. She depicts images from everyday life in her own unique style.

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My Country is Irrultja – Kindy Kemarre Ross

The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint ‘altyerr’ dreaming stories. The artists paint their country where those stories belong. 

“My country is called Irrultja, it’s past the hill and the dried-up creek from here, it’s a nice place, my dad’s country too, and my Mum’s country is here in Ampilatwatja. When I go to see my country, we always go to gather bush medicine, we always climb up the hill that’s in the south, we always go there. We like to look out over the land and there are lots of flowers and bush medicine up there. I love my countryside; I see the nice flowers and gather bush medicine for me and my family. I like to paint a mix of wildflowers and bush medicines in all my paintings because it reminds me of my favourite part of my country and when it rains the flowers come out. Yeah, my countryside.”

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Nawarlah (Brown River Stingray)

Aboriginal art in Ramingining, Central Arnhem Land is commonly illustrated through designs and images of animals, plants, and landscape. These motifs commonly reflect the artists ancestral inheritance and their dreamings and are referred to as totems.

For this, Serena has woven a stingray.

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Djerrk (Bush String Bag)

Djerrk are primarily made from the bark of Baḻgurr (Red-flowered Kurrajong – Brachychiton megaphyllus) but sometimes Banyan tree (Ficus virens) and Cocky Apple tree (Planchonia careya). Sections of the tree are cut, and depending on the size, whole portions or part portions from the trunk. The inner bark is beaten or chewed to soften then dyed with natural bush dyes. Once softened and dyed, parts of the fibre are separated into fine strips then rolled on the thigh to create a rope otherwise known as bush string. The bush string is then woven and knotted to create a djerrk (string bag). Djerrk were used for every day utilitarian purposes, particularly collecting bush foods such as bäḻtji (yam).

 

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Djerrk (Bush String Bag)

Djerrk are primarily made from the bark of Baḻgurr (Red-flowered Kurrajong – Brachychiton megaphyllus) but sometimes Banyan tree (Ficus virens) and Cocky Apple tree (Planchonia careya). Sections of the tree are cut, and depending on the size, whole portions or part portions from the trunk. The inner bark is beaten or chewed to soften then dyed with natural bush dyes. Once softened and dyed, parts of the fibre are separated into fine strips then rolled on the thigh to create a rope otherwise known as bush string. The bush string is then woven and knotted to create a djerrk (string bag). Djerrk were used for every day utilitarian purposes, particularly collecting bush foods such as bäḻtji (yam).

 

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115682328397

Djerrk (Bush String Bag)

Djerrk are primarily made from the bark of Baḻgurr (Red-flowered Kurrajong – Brachychiton megaphyllus) but sometimes Banyan tree (Ficus virens) and Cocky Apple tree (Planchonia careya). Sections of the tree are cut, and depending on the size, whole portions or part portions from the trunk. The inner bark is beaten or chewed to soften then dyed with natural bush dyes. Once softened and dyed, parts of the fibre are separated into fine strips then rolled on the thigh to create a rope otherwise known as bush string. The bush string is then woven and knotted to create a djerrk (string bag). Djerrk were used for every day utilitarian purposes, particularly collecting bush foods such as bäḻtji (yam).

 

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