Syaw – fish net

The subject matter of the Peppimenarti women's painting is significant, as it almost exclusively reproduces weaving motifs. Up until the painting movement in 2000 the Peppi women were renowned for their distinctive weaving (shared also by other groups from this area). They use the merrepen fan palm for their fibre, which gives their string and raw fibre weaving a distinctive gloss. The colour repertoire is also distinctive, with a preference for bright deep purples, blues, deep yellows and rich browns. In her book Peppimenarti basketmakers, 1988, Robyn Hodgson mentions that Regina Wilson is the most prolific craftswoman at Peppimenarti. Regina utilises a unique weaving style developed by another senior practitioner, using a double binding stitch along with the coiling or buttonhole stitch. She also uses another distinctive style developed at Peppimentarti, using lengths of plaiting that are coiled and stitched into the distinctive fringed mats. Her love of weaving is reflected in her paintings of warrgarri (string bags), mats and coil baskets and, more recently, of the syaw (fish net). In this painting Regina has focused upon the warp and weft structure of the net. The weaving method is the same as the stitch used in weaving the warrgarri (dilly bag) except bigger. The pinbin (bush vine) grows near the river and is stripped into fibres, which are then woven into the net. The syaw is used to catch fish, prawns and other edible living creatures in the creeks and rivers © Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory