Our Stories
From Weaving to Wearable Art: Meet the Artists of Anindilyakwa Arts
In partnership with Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation, Country Road is proud to support Country to Couture. This partnership is designed to celebrate the art, creativity and talent of First Nations Peoples, while providing the valuable opportunity to learn from the world’s oldest living cultures.
Annabell Amagula and Jeanelle Mamarika are artists at the Anindilyakwa Arts Centre, a thriving creative hub located on Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Annabell is a master string maker and weaver, while Jeanelle focuses on pandanus weaving, bush dyeing, and jewellery making.
This month, both artists will showcase their work alongside eight others from the Arts Centre as part of Country to Couture, an event held by Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation (DAAFF) and broadcast on NITV.
Ahead of the showcase, we recently met with Annabell and Jeanelle to explore their craft and creative process.
Weaving
Many of the Anindilyakwa artists specialise in hand weaving, using a combination of pandanus leaves, discarded fishing nets and fabrics. Fishing nets are washed up along the beach, collected by rangers and hand woven into beautiful baskets, hats and jewellery. Artists use a combination of natural and recycled fibres, including silks, cottons and discarded work shirts sourced from a nearby mine on the island to create beautiful new designs. Pandanus, a palm-like plant, is foraged from the surrounding bush, and can also be used in traditional dyeing practices.
Weaving is an important part of the creative process for many artists at Anindilyakwa Arts, with techniques passed down one from one generation to another. By using various materials to weave their designs, the artists combine old and new techniques to create each piece in a true celebration of art and culture.
I make baskets with the pandanus. We go out with the old ladies, collect some pandanus and the colours. I always work with the pandanus the old ways... The old ladies, they were doing this a long, long time ago with the old ways.”—Jeanelle
Bush Dyeing
The art of bush dyeing is a practice that draws on ancient knowledge of Country. Artists collect different roots, leaves, barks and berries from the surrounding bush, before binding them to a piece of fabric. The fabric is then boiled over a fire with the leaves and roots, where it transforms into a beautiful reflection of the land in a myriad of colours.
I’m happy when I'm talking and telling my story. I started learning bush dyes from my grandmother, I used to have my grandmother on one side teaching me how. She was doing the baskets from the start when I was five years old. When I was 12 and 13 years old, I started making baskets.—Annabell
Digital Printing
Digital printing is another way for artists to experiment with their designs through different mediums. Once a piece of art has been made (such as a woven basket), Darwin creative Anna Reynolds works with the artists to turn each piece into a unique digital print. Anna works very closely with each artist to ensure their vision is realised every step of the way.
I've been working back and forth [with the artists] now for three years, and coming and going. I have relationships with most of those artists on the phone, so there's a lot of conversation between my visits and ideas that people have.—Anna
Each artist approaches it a little bit differently. Some artists are very confident painters, and others, we've actually deconstructed photographs that were taken of their weavings and then re-put them back together as digital prints.
Wearable Art
The resulting collection is an impressive display of wearable art, with countless hours and stories woven into every single piece. The Anindilyakwa Arts Centre ‘Women’s Work’ collection will be on display as part of Country to Couture, a showcase that will be digitally broadcasted via NITV on January 22. These one-of-a-kind pieces will also be available for loan and purchase upon application here.
