Na-méwaya (triangle fish net)
*Ndjébbana
A small fishing net or butterfly net of a traditional triangular design.
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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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Dilly Bag
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CATFISH
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Djomi
This design depicts the story of the artist’s ancestral dreaming, the Djomi fresh water spirit mermaid.
The Djomi figure is a mermaid like spirit with fish tail that lives in the fresh water stream that flows out to the sea cliff near Maningrida. Djomi is a known to be a very powerful fertility symbol.
‘If you go there you can get pregnant easily. Djomi has babies, and they can give others babies too. The Djomi spirit is so powerful, that women can end up with multiple babies at once, twins or sometimes even more. The Djomi spirits lay eggs near the sacred freshwater stream in Maningrida. Inside the eggs are human babies as well as young Djomi.
Men do not go near that swamp, because Djomi is so powerful that men might get pregnant there too. So men, they are too scared of that Djomi. When we visit the Djomi freshwater spring, we can hear young Djomi crying. They sound like normal babies crying, those Djomi spirits. They are looking for a mother.
This Djomi is my dreaming, I got permission from my djunguys to paint this Djomi design. For me I always ask my djunguy permission to paint, because that is our cultural way.
This design also depicts the fresh water lily leaves, and seaweed from the base of the sea floor.
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Kunred Kunkurra (Helen Kaminski)
The artist, Janet Marawarr calls this design Kunred Kunkurra in her language, Kuninjku. Kunred means country, kunkurra refers the spiralling wind associated with the mini cyclones that occur around several sites in the Kardbam clan during the build up to the wet season. Marawarr often shares different versions of Kunkurra in her Lino print and Screen Print designs, the story or djang (dreaming) can be heard across the Kardbam clan groups Eastern Kunwinjku and Kuninjku people of the Yirridja moiety. This particular artwork describes the underground lightening that occurs during Kunkurra, in the build up to a storm in Mankorlod, Marawarr’s clan estate in West Arnhem Land.
‘The round shapes in the design mean flashing lightening. The lines beside those shapes are foot tracks, human foot tracks. When the rain falls it makes mud and underground lightening. When the sky is really red and black, we see the build up to a storm and we call that Kakodjngolbalabalahmen. That means that the clouds are forming. So that’s the one you see in this artwork. You can also see the leaves on top of the mud when the rain stops.’ Janet Marawarr 2023
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Mabbúlarr – Murnun
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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Yam Leaf
This fabric was created using the linocut printing technique. The lino tile was carved by the artist in Maningrida and printed by hand using a variety of colours and layers. The linocut technique ensures each textile piece is a one-off, limited edition piece.
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Marebu and stingray
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.
A collaborative piece of cloth printed with Jocelyn Koyole.
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Marebu and Stingray
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.
This is a collaborative work printed by Jocelyn Koyole. Jocelyn has created a stingray Lino design which is featured throughout the cloth.