Designed in 2010
“This river we call Mangabo. It is near Gudjarrngarrl homeland of my daughters, Deborah and Jennifer Wurrkidj. We cross that river when travelling to Munmoy outstation. In the wet season, that water comes up and covers over those rocks, and when you look down there are rocks all under the water.”
– Helen Lanyinwanga
Designed in 2010
“This river we call Mangabo. It is near Gudjarrngarrl homeland of my daughters, Deborah and Jennifer Wurrkidj. We cross that river when travelling to Munmoy outstation. In the wet season, that water comes up and covers over those rocks, and when you look down there are rocks all under the water.”
– Helen Lanyinwanga
Designed in 2010
“This river we call Mangabo. It is near Gudjarrngarrl homeland of my daughters, Deborah and Jennifer Wurrkidj. We cross that river when travelling to Munmoy outstation. In the wet season, that water comes up and covers over those rocks, and when you look down there are rocks all under the water.”
– Helen Lanyinwanga
Designed in 2010
“This river we call Mangabo. It is near Gudjarrngarrl homeland of my daughters, Deborah and Jennifer Wurrkidj. We cross that river when travelling to Munmoy outstation. In the wet season, that water comes up and covers over those rocks, and when you look down there are rocks all under the water.”
– Helen Lanyinwanga
Designed 2019
In Esther’s first screen design, she depicts the story of Mardarda (bones) and Njarlarla (fire sticks) carried in a dilly bag, reminiscent of traditional ways of the Ndjebenna people.
‘Back in the old days, our people would use a ‘bush lighter’ for lighting fires, which was two pieces of special wood which would make fire easily. The old people carried a dilly bag containing the fire stick all times, when they moved camps.
Old people would always carry dilly bags, sometimes with water, honey, food or bones of our deceased people.
When someone passed away their body would be put on a high platform built from eucalyptus and paperbark. They would use a firestick to light a fire under the platform, and people would sing and dance around that platform to send the deceased’s spirit back to his or her country.
The body would then be left here for many months. When ready, the clan would return to collect the bones to take them back to the deceased’s homeland for burial.
To travel to the homeland, people would paint the bones with brown ochre and place them in a dillybag. When they reached the deceased’s homeland, people would sing together, place the bones in the lorrkkon and to leave them rest forever.”
Designed 2019
In Esther’s first screen design, she depicts the story of Mardarda (bones) and Njarlarla (fire sticks) carried in a dilly bag, reminiscent of traditional ways of the Ndjebenna people.
‘Back in the old days, our people would use a ‘bush lighter’ for lighting fires, which was two pieces of special wood which would make fire easily. The old people carried a dilly bag containing the fire stick all times, when they moved camps.
Old people would always carry dilly bags, sometimes with water, honey, food or bones of our deceased people.
When someone passed away their body would be put on a high platform built from eucalyptus and paperbark. They would use a firestick to light a fire under the platform, and people would sing and dance around that platform to send the deceased’s spirit back to his or her country.
The body would then be left here for many months. When ready, the clan would return to collect the bones to take them back to the deceased’s homeland for burial.
To travel to the homeland, people would paint the bones with brown ochre and place them in a dillybag. When they reached the deceased’s homeland, people would sing together, place the bones in the lorrkkon and to leave them rest forever.”
Designed 2019
In Esther’s first screen design, she depicts the story of Mardarda (bones) and Njarlarla (fire sticks) carried in a dilly bag, reminiscent of traditional ways of the Ndjebenna people.
‘Back in the old days, our people would use a ‘bush lighter’ for lighting fires, which was two pieces of special wood which would make fire easily. The old people carried a dilly bag containing the fire stick all times, when they moved camps.
Old people would always carry dilly bags, sometimes with water, honey, food or bones of our deceased people.
When someone passed away their body would be put on a high platform built from eucalyptus and paperbark. They would use a firestick to light a fire under the platform, and people would sing and dance around that platform to send the deceased’s spirit back to his or her country.
The body would then be left here for many months. When ready, the clan would return to collect the bones to take them back to the deceased’s homeland for burial.
To travel to the homeland, people would paint the bones with brown ochre and place them in a dillybag. When they reached the deceased’s homeland, people would sing together, place the bones in the lorrkkon and to leave them rest forever.”
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.
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.
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.