Maningrida Arts & Culture

---

---

Ngaldadmurrng

This is a painting of ngaldadmurrng ‘Saratoga fish’ (Scleropages jardini) sometimes also called the Northern Spotted Barramundi.

Saratoga are commonly found in creeks, rivers and billabongs around the artist’s clan estate. The animal depicted is on one level easy to recognise and it’s meaning is easily accessible. On a deeper level the animal is depicted with intense rarrk ‘cross hatched’ infill, which creates a reference to Mardayin ceremonial mysticism. 

Saratoga makes their nests on the bottom of riverbeds in the sand by digging with their tails and fins and lay eggs into these depressions. During mortuary rituals the Kuninjku imitate these nests in sand sculpture. At the end of funerals all those who have attended the funeral are required to stand in the ‘saratoga’s nests’ and they are doused with water to be cleansed from the polluting effects of the deceased. A large meteorite crater near Mumeka in the Liverpool River district is said to be the nest of the saratoga which now stands in the landscape as djang ‘a sacred site’. 

In painting this image Marawarr is continuing a long tradition of figurative artistic practice carried out by Arnhem Land.

 

---

---

Kun-madj – large dillybag vine

Kun-madj, or dilly bag, is a large woven collecting basket. These large bags are often made from the vine ‘Malasia scandens’, a strong pliable plant which grows along the floor and into the canopy of monsoon vine thickets. The bags are used to collect any kind of large numbers of heavy foods such as fish caught in conical fish traps or large collections of yams.

They can also be made from Pandanus spiralis, a plant which grows in many areas of Arnhem Land. These dilly bags are a tightly woven collecting basket, very finely made. These dilly bags are often used to collect sugarbag, the native honey

As well as being of practical use, dilly bags are also of religious significance to Arnhem Land people. Dilly bags are said to be totemic objects and associated with particular sites in the landscape.

---

---

Bush Jewellery – Earrings

The women of Maningrida and surrounding homelands use a combination of locally found seeds, bone and shells to make a variety of jewellery including necklaces. earrings and bracelets.  Many of the artists use complex patterns and designs to make their beautiful creations.

---

---

Bush Jewellery – Earrings

The women of Maningrida and surrounding homelands use a combination of locally found seeds, bone and shells to make a variety of jewellery including necklaces. earrings and bracelets.  Many of the artists use complex patterns and designs to make their beautiful creations.

---

---

Bush Jewellery – Earrings

The women of Maningrida and surrounding homelands use a combination of locally found seeds, bone and shells to make a variety of jewellery including necklaces. earrings and bracelets.  Many of the artists use complex patterns and designs to make their beautiful creations.

---

---

Bush Jewellery – Earrings

The women of Maningrida and surrounding homelands use a combination of locally found seeds, bone and shells to make a variety of jewellery including necklaces. earrings and bracelets.  Many of the artists use complex patterns and designs to make their beautiful creations.

---

---

Bush Jewellery – Earrings

The women of Maningrida and surrounding homelands use a combination of locally found seeds, bone and shells to make a variety of jewellery including necklaces. earrings and bracelets.  Many of the artists use complex patterns and designs to make their beautiful creations.

---

---

Bush Jewellery – Earrings

The women of Maningrida and surrounding homelands use a combination of locally found seeds, bone and shells to make a variety of jewellery including necklaces. earrings and bracelets.  Many of the artists use complex patterns and designs to make their beautiful creations.

---

---

Bush Jewellery – Earrings

The women of Maningrida and surrounding homelands use a combination of locally found seeds, bone and shells to make a variety of jewellery including necklaces. earrings and bracelets.  Many of the artists use complex patterns and designs to make their beautiful creations.

---

---

Mat

Mats can vary greatly. Artists commonly use a mix of naturally dyed and undyed fibre to create a striking variation of coloured bands. Some artists also incorporate different types of looping to produce different patterns and textured finishes. Each type of mat, fibre bag, basket and dilly bag has its own name in the various languages spoken in the Maningrida region.