Basma Nulla, Borndolk (Glossamia aprion), 153x44cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Basma Nulla
• Community - Maningrida
• Homeland - Ji-balbal
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Maningrdia Arts
• Catalogue number - 562/23
• Materials - Pandanus and Natural Dyes
• Size(cm) - H153 W44 D2

"Borndolk" is the term used in Burarra and Gun-nartpa languages for a freshwater ray-finned fish, known as "Mouth Almighty," or Glossamia aprion. This species is widespread in northern Australia, where it occurs in rivers, creeks, and lagoons. Fiber works from the Maningrida region are widely recognized as some of the finest in Australia. Artists confidently push the boundaries of fiber craft and cultural expression, adapting traditional techniques and forms to produce strikingly inventive and aesthetically exquisite artworks.

In 2003, Kuninjku artist Marina Murdilnga brought a revolutionary new form of pandanus weaving to Maningrida Arts & Culture: a flat yawkyawk made from knotted pandanus on a jungle-vine frame, painted with natural pigments. She then explored using dyed pandanus and feathers in this manner. Murdilnga's innovation inspired many other weavers, who are now producing an array of beautifully resolved flat figurative works (such as stingrays, butterflies, spiderwebs) and spiritual figures and Ancestral beings.

Commonly used fibers include the leaves of pandanus (Pandanus spiralis), palms (Livistona), mírlírl (burney or jungle vine, Malaisia scandens), and the inner bark of kurrajong and stringybark eucalyptus trees. Weaving is physically hard work, now done only by women. They colour the pandanus using natural dyes made from the roots, leaves, or flowers of plants within the weaver’s clan estate. The same dye bath is often used to dye multiple batches of fiber, with variations in the colours depending on the time spent in the dye bath and the potency of the bath. The women skillfully use salt and wood ash as mordants and colour enhancers.

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