Indigenous Fibre Art from North Queensland
A
C AIRN S
REGIONAL
G AL L ERY
EXH IBITION
28 May – 15 August 2010
The creation of fibreart has a long history in Indigenous Australia. Images of fibre art appear in the oldest sequence of rock art paintings from around 25,000 years ago and, in most parts of Australia, indigenous people continue to practice these crafts. Their knowledge of the bush throughout different seasons means that year round they have an extensive menu of plants from which to choose, both for food and for fibres. Expertise is required in knowing what conditions are ideal for collecting plant material and how to process them. Knowledge is also required of the properties of other plants for dyes, and of other materials, such as feathers and paints, which can be combined with the fibres or used to decorate objects. Considerably different types of fibres are by employed by different groups throughout Queensland due to the region’s very diverse plant and geographical variations. Baskets are either woven, twined or coiled and can be distinguished by the type of technique used whether they are knotted, looped or twisted. Transforming plant, fur and even human hair into fibres is a complex process requiring not only detailed knowledge of the properties of natural materials, but also great skill and artistry. Spinning plant fibres into string is done by hand. Several strips of fibre are stretched over the thigh. The ends are held in one and the threads are kept apart between the fingers of the other. With the palm of the first hand moistened with water or grease and sometimes an ochre mixture, these fibres are rolled back and forth across the thigh, spinning them into 2-ply string. Similar techniques are used in the production of pandanus and coconut coils as well. The contemporary production of artistic forms is an important means by which cultural traditions are continued or renewed. The efforts of some older weavers in teaching basketry techniques to the younger generation have led to a greater production of baskets now than for the past fifty years or so. This continued production in remote areas of the State has provided sale opportunities, important sources of income where there are few formal opportunities for employment. As well as economic usefulness, production involves social opportunities in the gathering of raw materials as well as the occasion to gather food and pass on skills and knowledge. Intertwined is an exploration of indigenous contemporary weaving by five North Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists including Jenny Mye (Erub), Jacob Gabey (Mer), Eileen Coleman (Pormpuraaw), Ruby Ludwick (Yarrabah) and Tonya Grant (Jumbun).
Cover Image (L to R) - Image: Jacob GABEY (detail) Calabash 2010 woven coconut frond, bark. Image: Jenny MYE (detail) Epei 2010 woven coloured plastic strapping tape. Image: Tonya GRANT (detail) Jawun 2010 twined lawyer cane. Image: Eileen COLEMAN (detail) Dilly bag 1 2005 cabbage palm, natural dyes. Image: Ruby LUDWICK (detail) Basket l 2009 coil-woven pandanus palm fibre, natural dyes. Image 1: Jacob GABEY Meriam b.1956 Calabash 1 (Fruit and accessories bowl) 2010 woven coconut frond, bark. Image 2: Jenny MYE Meriam b.1934 Epei 1 2010 woven coloured plastic strapping tape. Image 3: Tonya GRANT Jirrbal b.1973 Jawun 1 2010 twined lawyer cane. Image 4: Eileen COLEMAN Thayorre b.1947 Dilly bag 1 2005 twined cabbage palm fibre, natural dyes. Image 5: Ruby LUDWICK Kuku Yalanji b.1945 Basket 1 2009 coil-woven pandanus palm fibre, natural dyes.
Jacob Gabey is a traditional weaver trained in the skills of generations of Meriam people. Born in 1956 into the Zagareb and Komet clans on Mer (Murray Island) located in the Eastern Islands of the Torres Strait, he began weaving as a child after watching his mother and father weave baskets and mats to assist with their domestic chores. Inspiration and further technique also came from Frank Wapau aka Uncle Friday who taught his wife, Nay to weave. Gabey’s bowls and baskets, made from coconut leaf fronds and tree bark are used to contain fruit, vegetables and other domestic items. He is also proficient in weaving roofing mats, laulaus (damper baskets), flower vases and bozipeys (armbands).
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Most of these items are made over several days. The coconut palm fronds are cut green and left to rest for 2 entire days before being checked. The rib of the frond needs to be flexible and this is tested by simply bending it. If it breaks then additional rest time is required. Generally, weaving is commenced and finished on the third day. Gabey holds the importance of weaving close-atheart, as this is his means of connecting with past ancestorial figures.
Jenny Mye is one of the many talented female Torres Strait Island craft practitioners to gain enormous skill and precision in weaving traditional and contemporary Torres Strait Island baskets and other textile forms of both temporary and permanent nature, depending on the function. Born in 1934 on the island of Erub (Darnley Island), situated in the eastern group of islands that comprise the Torres Strait, she was brought up in a large family that held and practiced the traditional values of the Meriam people (Magarem clan) – a subsistence lifestyle that relied on the island’s fertile soil and whatever could be gathered from the sea. As a child she learnt the basis of traditional weaving using pandanus and coconut leaf from family members. Today she creates brightly coloured bags and baskets woven from plastic strapping tape, which show the influence of South Sea Island textiles as well as highlighting the ability of Torres Strait Islanders to adapt to new materials.
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Tonya Grant or Jinnabooday (her traditional name) was born in 1973 into the a large tribe, the Jirrbal people from Davidson Falls area, north of Cardwell, a tribe that prospered in the resource-rich rainforest area which provided them with an abundant source of fauna and flora for hunting, gathering and fishing. They intelligently manipulated and crafted an extensive array of implements including baskets of various shapes and sizes that were deployed for numerous purposes. Grant is an expert weaver of the Jawun, which is the traditional bicornial basket, made of calamus sp. (lawyer cane), a style of basket that is unique to the rainforest people of North Queensland. Her mother, Desley Henry was a well-known and respected Jawun weaver whose basketry and technique was highly sought after throughout Australia and internationally. Before her death, she passed on her traditional techniques and skills to her daughters and grandchildren. Grant currently resides with her partner and five children at Jumbun; a small Aboriginal community located 40 kilometres southwest of Tully.
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Eileen Coleman was born in 1947 at Pormpuraaw, formerly Edward River, located on the western side of Cape York Peninsula. She began weaving as a child and was taught these principals by her mother and aunties, who were all prolific weavers of dilly bags, yam sifters and other domestic items. The dilly bags that she creates are used for the collection of bush tucker including yams, black berries, lady apple, water lilies, bush cucumbers and mud crabs. Yam sifters are used to clean the dirt and remove the outer skin from freshly dug yams. Both examples, without additional adornment, take roughly 4 weeks to produce.
Ruby Ludwick continues the timeless traditions of collecting and preparing materials for her fibre craft of basket making. Born in the aboriginal community of Yarrabah in 1945 she follows in the footsteps of her mother Ernestine Yeatman and grandmother Annie Schrieber who taught her the skill of coil weaving from a young age, a technique that was introduced into the community by a Torres Strait Islander woman from Saibai around 1908.
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A member of the Kuku Yalanji language group, Ludwick would accompany her elders on long walking trips to Murigan, a special place where pandanus palms yagal grew in great numbers. Throughout the day, the women would cut and prepare fresh young leaves from the palm, which involved removing the sharp prickles from the leaf ’s edge before rolling them into large bundles, which were then carried back to the community. The production of Ludwick’s baskets takes about three weeks from start to finish. With a small knife blade as her only tool, she creates functional baskets that are both coloured with natural dyes and pigments (earth colours) as well as commercial fabric dyes (blue, green tints).
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Brian Robinson, Exhibition Manager
Cairns Regional Gallery would like to acknowledge the generous support from Jacob Gabey, Jenny Mye, Tonya Grant, Eileen Coleman, Ruby Ludwick, Gab Titui Cultural Centre (Georgina Dann, Bronwyn Jewel and Maxine Seekee), Erub Erwer Meta Art Centre (Diann Lui), Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre (Valerie Keenan), and the Pormpuraaw Art Centre (Paul Jakubowski) for this exhibition and publication - Intertwined: Indigenous Fibre Art from North Queensland.