Item X 104922 dedjkuyeng gubinj | Basket. Kunwinjku. Gunbalanya, Western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. 2003

Summary

Although Djibugula's specialty is creating works using the twining technique, she sometimes makes coiled baskets with handles like this one.

Styles introduced and encouraged by missionaries in the first half of the twentieth century are a key feature in the baskets produced by Kunwinjku women at Gunbalanya today. One such type is the 'baby basket', a long oval-shaped form with long handles on each side intended to enable carrying. A variation of this is a larger form that is described as a 'canoe-shaped' basket and referred to by the Kunwinjku term 'dedjkuyeng gubinj', which translates as 'long base'.

Local Name

dedjkuyeng gubinj

Physical Description

A long oval-shaped basket, coiled, with horizontal bands of dyed pandanus. Broad horizontal bands of dyed pandanus of orange colour are tightly bound and intersected with a band of open stitching of dyed pandanus of a red colour. It has two long rigid coiled handles that emerge from the last coil at the top of the basket.