Item X 105032 kakarrme dangmaye | Basket. Kunwinjku. Gunbalanya, Western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. 2002

Summary

Lidded baskets became very popular items for sale during mission times in Arnhem land as well as in Aboriginal missions in the south. Some of the baskets with their covers would have served as food storage containers. This example has been coiled with horizontal bands of dyed pandanus broken up with two rows of open lace stitching. The lid is unusual in that it has been coiled with open sections that form a star pattern.

Local Name

kakarrme dangmaye

Physical Description

Lidded basket, coiled, made with horizontal bands of dyed pandanus broken up with two rows of open lace stitching. The coiled lid has open sections that form a star pattern. The rigid handle is a single coil that is stitched to the fourth row or coil bundle from the top.

Significance

Marilyn Gumurdul's signature style is typically the two sided pandanus handbags, however she is also well known for her coiled baskets. This one is very unusual in that she has created a star design on the lid and the combination of two rows of lace-like coiling into the body of the basket.The single-coil handle extending from the fourth row coil bundle is another signature of her coiled baskets. Marilyn is recognised as a very accomplished fibre artist, and her work was profiled in the exhibition, Woven Forms: Contemporary Basket Making in Australia that opened at Object Gallery in Sydney in September 2005 and then toured nationally. It has also featured in the publication '500 Baskets: Celebration of the Basketmakers Art' (2006).