This essay was first published in NGV Triennial 2023, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
THE WEAVING
Mun-dirra, 2023, is an immense, 100-metre-long, multi-panel artwork that symbolises the extraordinary possibilities of the human mind and spirit. The beauty and ambition of this major installation reflects the creativity and collaboration that underpin so many aspects of Burarra art and culture. The Community of Maningrida in Central-West Arnhem Land has long been home to a rich and vibrant cultural heritage, with particular strengths in bark painting, sculpture and weaving. In 2021, the NGV commissioned Mun-dirra – one of most impressive examples of fibre art ever undertaken globally. After nearly two years of production, the NGV is delighted to present this monumental work, the largest woven sculpture ever produced in Australia.
The experience of spending time inside Mun-dirra is symbolic of the complexity and interconnectedness of the human soul. The patterns created by the intertwining and overlapping of the pandanus walls offer a metaphor that represents the threads of our thoughts, experiences and emotions. Each line is suggestive of a different aspect of our inner selves, and the act of weaving a metaphor for the way in which these elements come together to form a complete and cohesive whole. Humanity.
With roots going back to Antiquity, weaving is one of the oldest human crafts – a timeless, fundamental art form that has defined the way human beings interact with the world around them. Yet despite this, weaving rarely receives the same attention in the art world as other, male-dominated art forms. For Burarra women, weaving is also a form of matrilineal knowledge transfer, with grandmothers working alongside daughters and granddaughters to pass down stories, as well as their craft. The collection of uniquely woven and dyed pandanus walls that make up Mun-dirra shine a light on the multifarious ways in which Burarra women gather materials and create objects. These woven objects, which are at the heart of women’s relationship to Country, have also allowed Burarra people to live sustainably with the land for generations.
Burarra women have been creating beautiful, intricate woven objects like Mun-dirra for millennia. Women at Maningrida are leaders in the development of sophisticated examples of design and material culture, specialising in objects such as an-guchechiya (fish trap), burlurpurr (bathi or dilly bags), bamagora (conical mat / women’s skirt used for ceremony).
First Nations people in Australia have had custodianship of Country for at least 65,000 years, and in that time they have borne witness to extreme environmental changes. They have lived through several ice ages, which saw sea levels drop dramatically, exposing land bridges and creating new habitats for plants and animals. They have experienced rapid warming periods, including the end of the last ice age, which led to significant changes in plant and animal distribution. In more recent times, First Nations people in Australia have also witnessed massive environmental transformations, such as the arrival of other humans and the introduction of new species like the dingo. They have seen the expansion and contraction of rainforests, the spread of grasslands and the impact of bushfires, as well as other natural and human-made disasters.
Mun-dirra is simultaneously a contemporary work of art and a form of cultural continuity representing a relationship to land and water that defines Burarra life. For Burarra women, weaving is not just a means of creating functional objects, it is also a way for individuals to express their identity and cultural heritage. Weaving styles are often passed down from generation to generation, or from master to apprentice, with each weaver adding their own personal touch and interpretation to the craft. The result of this type of learning is that the style of each individual’s weaving can – and does – reveal much about their personality, cultural background, family history and creativity. When we look at the patterns, colours and techniques used in each artist’s weave, we gain insight into their world view, personal values, beliefs and, indeed, their souls. In this way, weaving is a powerful tool for both self-expression and cultural preservation.
Doreen Jinggarrabarra, for instance, is an artist who weaves with great care and precision. Her meticulous and detail-oriented approach to weaving is a direct reflection of her personality, which is similarly focused and meticulous. On the other hand, Freda Ali is an artist who weaves quickly and with less attention to tightness, which is consistent with her more spontaneous personality.
Burarra women from Maningrida use natural materials such as gun-menama (pandanus leaves), burdaga (kurrajong) and various bark fibres to produce their work. Mun-dirra is the Burarra-language word for ‘fish fence’. There are two common types of fish traps produced in Maningrida: mun-dirra, and a cone-shaped trap called an-gujechiya. The process of creating fish traps and fish net fences involves using vine, specifically mirlarl, which is sourced from the jungle. The vine is soaked in water overnight to soften it before it is woven into rings to form the body of the structure. The artists spend approximately three to four weeks working on the trap, using kurrajong, or burdaga, to create string, which is used to attach hibiscus, or bardainy, rings and to tie the conical end of the trap. This type of fish trap can be used in both salt water and fresh water.
Mun-dirra, the other type of fish net fence, was, in the past, placed across rivers and creeks, with an-gujechiya in the middle, and smaller items like sticks, rocks, mud and grass were stacked to prevent the fish from passing through. The fish traps were successful in catching a variety of fish, such as rajarra (saltwater barramundi), janambal (freshwater barramundi), buliya (small black freshwater catfish), an-guwirrpiya (bonefish) and dalakan (sand bass).
For Burarra people, the connection to land and waterways is profound. Their understanding of the natural world is defined by their relationship to place and sustainability, which is encapsulated in their knowledge of how to work with materials collected from Country. For First Nations people around the globe, sustainability has not been a choice, but a way of life. The survival of culture, family and Community remains intricately tied to the health of the environment. An innate understanding of the importance of sustainability is ingrained in the aforementioned types of fishing traditions. The lands and waterways are not resources to be exploited, but living entities that must be cared for and protected. For Burarra people, sustainability is not just important because of climate change, it is a moral imperative – one that is central to their ontological world view. Through processes like weaving, Burarra people
maintain an intimate knowledge of the environment and its interconnections, as well as a deep understanding of plants, animals, water and weather patterns. Mun-dirra provides an opportunity to reflect on sophisticated techniques for managing natural resources sustainably, including the careful selection of materials and an understanding of how the objects we use affect the world around us.
Design projects like this serve as a powerful reminder of the importance of listening to First Nations people and their knowledge about climate change and sustainable design. For thousands of years, First Nations people have lived in relative harmony with the land, understanding the interconnections between the environment and the human soul. By incorporating their knowledge and skills into modern design thinking, we can create a more sustainable and equitable future for all.
THE ARTISTS
Mun-dirra was created by a group of artists including Doreen
Jinggarrabarra, Freda Ali Wayartja, Freda Ali, Indra Prudence, Zoe Prudence, Gabriella Garrimara, Maureen Ali, Jennifer Prudence, Anthea Stewart, Bonnie Burarngarra, Lorna Jingubarrangunyja, Michelle Baker, Cecille Baker (listed in no particular order).
It was a somewhat modest 2-metre-long fish fence by Indra Prudence that initially inspired Mun-dirra. Prudence is a beautiful weaver who uses lattice design in her work. She comes from Ji-marda, a coastal homeland approximately two-and-a-half hours east of Maningrida. During the wet season, she and her family travel by boat to reach Maningrida and get supplies. As well as working as a teacher at the local school in Ji-marda, Prudence also specialises in making both fish traps and fish fences. Working alongside Prudence is Gabriella Garrimara, who also lives at Ji-mardi outstation and rarely comes into Maningrida. Most of Garrimara’s woven artworks arrive at the art centre through family, who travel by road, boat or charter plane, depending on whether the road to Ji-mardi is flooded, as it tends to be during the wet season.
Perhaps the three most senior artists to have worked on Mun-dirra are sisters Freda Wayartja Ali, Bonnie Burarngarra and Doreen Jinggarrabarra. Burarngarra belongs to the Burarra/ Walamangu people, and her work has been internationally celebrated. She was born, and continues to live, on her ancestral Country at Yilan, in the Cape Stewart area. She is a Traditional Owner of Yilan, as well as Yurrwi, or Milingimbi Island. Along with her late husband Jacky Maranbarra, Burarngarra is one of the few remaining master makers of an-guchechiya (fish trap). Maningrida Arts & Culture describes Burarngarra as having ‘the wisdom, strength and gentleness of a woman that has spent her entire life living on her homeland, with her ancestral culture engrained in her everyday life’, a sensibility that is reflected in her gentle palette and uniform weaving style.
Burarngarra and Ali Wayartja have collaborated in the past. They worked together in 2022 to produce An-gujechiya, an elegant fish trap sculpture that was awarded the Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. Their ability to collaborate on complex woven forms is evidence of their ingenuity, technical excellence and commitment to the slow-paced and multifarious stages of fibre art production. Another of Burarngarra and Ali Wayartja’s sisters, Freda Ali #2, has also contributed a section of the fish fence. Taught by her sisters and mother to weave, Freda #2 only started weaving artworks to sell in 2021. Like her personality, her work is distinctly bright and colourful, using pandanus that has been vividly dyed with natural botanicals.
Working alongside the two Fredas and Burarngarra is Doreen Jinggarrabarra, a prominent fibre artist who specialises in mats, conical dilly bags and woven string bags, using a variety of natural fibres, including pandanus, mirlarl (jungle vine / Malaisia scandens), sedge grass and kurrajong. Jinggarrabarra began weaving in her twenties, after watching her mother Elizabeth Mipilanggurr during her childhood. Unlike most weavers from Western Arnhem Land, Jinggarrabarra doesn’t dye her fibres – instead, she leaves them with their natural, more subtle colour. Her work is recognisable for its fine detail and intricate designs, an approach she recalls learning from her mother.
Maureen Ali also learned to weave watching family – in her case, it was both her sister Bonnie Burarngarra and her mother, Lorna Jin-gubarrangunyja. Ali is particularly renowned for her use of mirlarl, which grows in the coastal jungle and is unique to North-East Arnhem Land. Ali has been observing cultural protocols for sorry business since her husband’s sudden passing in 2022, and as a result she has been unable to leave her home or be seen outside. However, with the help of her sisters Bonnie and Freda #1, who gather pandanus and dye for her, she has been able to weave her mun-dirra entirely from her house. This is particularly remarkable considering the immense scale of weaving, which begins at 3.5 metres high.
Lorna Jin-gubarrangunyja also lives at Yilan outstation and has been selling work at Maningrida since the 1980s. In 2002, Jin-gubarrangunyja made her first fish trap, learning from her husband George Ganyjibala – traditionally, only men were able to make fish traps. She now uses fish trap forms as the basis for elegant sculptural works of art, weaving with fibres such as pandanus that she dyes with natural colours. In 2003, Jin-gubarrangunyja also won the prestigious Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award with a colourful pandanus fish trap, cementing her place as one the leading fibre artists working in Australia today.
In 2023, Indra Prudence needed to travel to Garramilla (Darwin) for health reasons, and so her sisters Zoe and Gabriella Prudence stepped in, assisting with completing her fence. While away sisters Michelle Baker and Cecille Baker, whose work is immediately recognisable by their signature use of bands purple, white, red and yellow naturally dyed Pandanus, also stepped in to help. Another collaborator who assisted with production in the late stages of the project, is emerging talent Anthea Stewart, whose County is also at Ji-mardi Outstation. Whilst still a relatively young artist, Stewart demonstrates the skill and weaving precision of a masterful senior weaver.
The artists working on Mun-dirra are all connected, be it by history, totem, skin group, language or family ties. Jingubarrangunyja taught her younger sister Jennifer Prudence to weave, and Zoe Prudence, the youngest artist to work on Mun-dirra, is the younger sister of both Indra Prudence and Gabriella Garrimara. Each of the artists are connected to each other, just as they are connected to an unbroken lineage of Burarra women who have passed down sacred knowledge since time immemorial. Mun-dirra is a collaboration in the true sense. Just as the fibres on their creation interlock and connect, so, too, do the artists’ lives.
The NGV warmly thanks Lisa Fox for her support.
This project has been supported by the Elizabeth Summons Grant in Memory of Nicholas Draffin.
MYLES RUSSELL-COOK is Senior Curator, Australian and First Nations Art, National Gallery of Victoria.