{"product_id":"alison-kuwanjguwanj-yawkyawk-fish-and-stingray-96x87cm","title":"Alison Kuwanjguwanj, Yawkyawk (, fish, and stingray) 96x87cm","description":"\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan style=\"line-height: 1.4;\"\u003eAboriginal Artist - Alison Kuwanjguwanj\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan style=\"line-height: 1.4;\"\u003eCommunity - Maningrida\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan style=\"line-height: 1.4;\"\u003eHomeland - Korlobidahdah\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan style=\"line-height: 1.4;\"\u003eAboriginal Art Centre - \u003cspan\u003eManingrida Arts and Culture\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan style=\"line-height: 1.4;\"\u003eCatalogue number - 1273-25\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan style=\"line-height: 1.4;\"\u003eMaterials - \u003cspan\u003ePandanus and bush cane, with natural dyes\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan style=\"line-height: 1.4;\"\u003eSize(cm) - H96 W87\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan style=\"line-height: 1.4;\"\u003ePostage - Posted flat\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003eArtwork\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eYawkyawk is a word in the Kunwinjku\/Kunwok language of Western Arnhem Land meaning ‘young woman’ and ‘young woman spirit being’. The different groups of Kunwinjku people (one of the Eastern dialect groups call themselves Kuninjku) each have Yawkyawk mythologies, which relate to specific locations in clan estates. These mythologies are represented in bark paintings and sculptures of Yawkyawk beings. There are also a few examples of rock art images of these beings.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe female water spirits Yawkyawk or Ngalkunburriyaymi are perhaps the most enigmatic of mythological themes. Sometimes compared to the European notion of mermaids, they exist as spiritual beings living in freshwater streams and rock pools, particularly those in the stone country. The spirit Yawkyawk is usually described and depicted with the tail of a fish. Thus the Kuninjku people sometimes call them ngalberddjenj which literally means ‘the young woman who has a tail like a fish’. They have long hair, which is associated with trailing blooms of green algae (called man-bak in Kuninjku). At times they leave their aquatic homes to walk about on dry land, particularly at night.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAboriginal people believe that in the beginning most animals were humans. During the time of the creation of landscapes and plants and animals, these ancestral heroes in human form transmutated into their animal forms via a series of various significant events now recorded as oral mythologies. The creation ancestor Yawkyawk travelled the country in human form and changed into the form of Ngalkunburriyaymi as a result of various ancestral adventures. Today the Kuninjku believe that Ngalkunburriyaymi are alive and well and living in freshwater sites in a number of sacred locations.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSome features of a respective country are equated with body parts of Yawkyawk. For example a bend in a river or creek may be said to be ‘the tail of the Yawkyawk, a billabong may be ‘the head of the Yawkyawk and so on. Thus different groups can be linked together by means of a shared mythology featured in the landscape, which crosscuts clan and language group boundaries.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003eArtist\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlison Kuwanjguwanj learned to weave from her mother Frewa Bardaluna, a master fibre artist who had numerous exhibitions with leading Australian commercial galleries.  Alison’s work is distinguished by her soft tonal range, strong sense of design and intricate technique.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlison predominately uses\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003egun-menama\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e(pandanus spiralis) it make woven panels, dilly bags and 2D sculptures of animals and\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eyawkyawks\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e(female water spirits). To prepare the pandanus the inner leaves of the plant are collected using a hook. Each V-shaped leaf is first split in half along its spine. After removing the sharp spines, the two surfaces of the leaf are then split away from other. After this preparation, the pandanus is boiled in a billycan with plant materials to dye the fibre. Like her contemporaries, Alison only uses natural dyes and achieves enormous variation. Common colours in her work include:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– \u003cem\u003ebarra gu-jirra: \u003c\/em\u003ethe soft, white and fleshy end of the pandanus leaf imparts green to the fibre.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003emun-gumurduk\/ gala \u003c\/em\u003e(Pogonolobus reticulatus):\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ea bright yellow root that is crushed and put in a billycan with the fibre and boiled. It creates yellow when boiled once and deep orange hues when boiled multiple times.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– \u003cem\u003engalpur \u003c\/em\u003e(Haemodorum brevicaule): a bright red root which yields a range of purply red to brown colours.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– \u003cem\u003eBaluk: \u003c\/em\u003eashes of certain plants are added to the boiling billycan with the fibre and dye plants to alter the colour that is imparted to the fibre. The fruiting body of \u003cem\u003egulpiny (\u003c\/em\u003eBanksia denanta) is burnt and the ashes added to other day plants to make the colour pink. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(Margie West, 1995, Maningrida\u003cem\u003e – the Language of Weaving)\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Maningrida Arts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51497640919264,"sku":null,"price":704.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0949\/4240\/files\/AlisonKuwanjguwanj1273-2597x87cm.jpg?v=1776235181","url":"https:\/\/artark.com.au\/en-uk\/products\/alison-kuwanjguwanj-yawkyawk-fish-and-stingray-96x87cm","provider":"ART ARK® ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}