Maningrida Arts & Culture

Mandjabu Kuninjku people traditionally make two sorts of conical fish traps. One called Mandjabu made from milil a vine. And another smaller one called manyilk Mandjabu, made from the grass manylik. The milil conical fish trap is bigger and stronger and used in tidal reaches of creeks to catch large Read more…

Nawarlah – Brown River Stingray We hunt the Nawarlah (Brown River Stingray) during the wet season.  There is a plant with a yellow flower that tells us that it is the right time.  We know it will be fat.  It is well known that Aboriginal art often depicts images of Read more…

Djenj

Man-ngalinj (bush potato) Man-ngalinj is a root vegetable often described as ‘bush potato’. It’s duwa, the artist’s moiety. It has a bulbous root and a long thin vine with small flowers that grows across the ground or up the trunks of nearby trees. Large crops can be found near the Read more…

Kunkaninj

Mimih Spirit The mimih spirit exists in a realm that runs parallel to and mirrors many facets of human life, also demonstrating the deep sense of time and place understood by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Such spirits feature importantly in relation to Aboriginal spirituality, cosmology, social and moral Read more…

Burlupurr – large dillybag Burlupurr, 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 Read more…

Burlupurr – large dillybag Burlupurr, 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 Read more…

Coil Basket Coiling technique was introduced in the 1920s at Goulburn Island to the Maung people by missionaries and quickly spread to the mainland. Many artists produce coiled baskets of varied shapes, ranging from small round baskets to large oval baby baskets made from dyed pandanus. Artists combine colours and Read more…