Item X 105078 dedjkuyeng gubunj | Basket. Kunwinjku. Gunbalanya, Western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. 2003

Summary

The colourful coiled canoe basket made by Margaret Djogiba makes use of the counterchange design principle with chequered blocks of colour. The way the women work with the naturally sourced dyes in the Gunbalanya area, in this case in purple, yellow and white, is one of the distinguishing factors that separates their work from others in Arnhem land.

Margaret is one of the foremost fibre artists in western Arnhem Land and her signature style is the creation of the earliest known classic forms of twined conical baskets made from pandanus. She is also well-known for her twined mats that, like the conical baskets, incorporate an element of three-stranded twining. Margaret was one of the few artists to participate in the Twined Together workshops held at Museums Victoria and was commissioned to produce work for the touring exhibition, Re-Coil.

Local Name

dedjkuyeng gubunj

Physical Description

Canoe or bicornial shaped basket, coiled, with rows of chequered pattern of dyed pandanus (purple, yellow, white) divided by solid bands of dyed pandanus (yellow and purple). The coiled handle is attached in the middle of the basket on opposite sides.