Mindirr (installation view)

Mindirr are ancient basket forms said to be carried by the ancestral Djan’kawu sisters on their creative journeys across Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory. Margaret Rarru and Helen Ganalmirriwuy’s mindirr are made in the classical conical shape; however, in a contemporary take on the form, the women have dyed the twined pandanus leaves a dense charcoal–black, highlighing subtle gradations of colour and emphasising irregular surface patterns reflecting the handmade process.
As Margaret Rarru has stated:

Baskets, mats and dilly bags are woven from pandanus. We prepare the leaves and dye them with the bark of a plant called guninyi, which creates both the yellow colour and a red/brown colour when ashes from the fire mix with the yellow liquid. The black/brown we make by boiling plants gathered from the bush on Yurrwi (Milingimbi).

The closely guarded process for making the rare black dye was discovered through constant experimentation, and is used to emphasise the iconic lines of the baskets.

Born in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Margaret Rarru and her sister Helen Ganalmirriwuy were taught the poetic meanings of ancient Aboriginal creation narratives by their father while they were young. The stark images of clan designs on sheets of bark and wooden memorial poles, depicted in distinctive earth pigments – red (miku), white (watharr) and yellow (buthjalak) – originate from the ritual markings painted on the bodies of Liyagawumirr people during important ceremonies. In 2006 (unusually for women at the time), they inherited the right to paint these sacred images following the death of their brother, renowned painter Mickey Durrng (c.1940–2006). The sisters’ creative approach consequently sparked a Liyagawumirr cultural revival.

Having also learnt the cultural meanings of traditional woven fibre objects, the women perfected a range of weaving processes and techniques to make sacred and utilitarian basketry. Following their discovery of a rare black vegetable dye (achieved in a secret process), the sisters developed their unique bathi mul (black baskets). Pandanus leaf strands saturated with rich colour are twined into conical forms, or coiled into solid, sculptural vessels. The woven surfaces of these forms take on a metallic gleam and display subtle textural variations within graded fields of black.

Living remotely on their island homes of Yurrwi (Milingimbi) and Langarra (Howard Island), Margaret Rarru and Helen Ganalmirriwuy have established a reputation as two of the finest and most innovative textile artists in Australia.

Exhibited in 'The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art' (APT9) | 24 Nov 2018 – 28 Apr 2019