Summary
Kunwinjku women make baskets and bowls that resemble household items. Groups of related Kunwinjku women create signature designs and forms. This can be indicated by the type of handle made for a basket and its method of attachment. This basket with its coiled swivel handle and flat bottom resembles a bucket, and is known by the Kunwinjku term 'badjkid'.
Marlene Burranali made this badjkid and the handle was made by her sister Jill Nganjmirra. Preferences of particular styles are most often as a result of the styles and techniques used by the mothers and grandmothers of the Kunwinjku women at Gunbalanya today. Sisters and other close female relatives will collect pandanus together and share the preparation and dyeing of the fibre. While this work reveals the collaborative nature of fibre practice, the work of individual women even those closely related to each other is often distinguishable.
Marlene is the elder sister of four daughters of artist Spider Namirrki, and her other sisters Betty Namarnyilk and Leanne Guymala are also fibre artists whose work is featured in the Indigenous collections at Museums Victoria. Her work was featured in Object #45, December 2004 and in the publication '500 Baskets: Celebration of the Basketmakers Art' (2006).
Local Name
badjkid
Physical Description
Circular basket, coiled, made with horizontal bands of dyed pandanus (yellow, purple, brown, white) and variations in coil bundle technique. The swivel plaited handle is attached on opposite sides of the basket.
More Information
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Object/Medium
Basket
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Maker
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Cultural Groups
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Locality
Gunbalanya, Western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia
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Date Produced
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Collector
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Date Collected
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Fully Extended
340 mm (Length), 300 mm (Width), 420 mm (Height)
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Keywords
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Collection Names
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Type of item
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Discipline
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Category
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Collecting Areas
Australian Indigenous - Northern Australia and Queensland and Torres Strait Islands, Australian Indigenous Identity and Contemporary Life