Floating life: contemporary Aboriginal fibre art

11 Visible songs: captured flight Diane Moon So the two Sisters sat still in the tossing canoe, watching the great sea creature with eyes that were full of fear and half of wonder. ‘Surely it is like a great mat’, they say to one another softly, and the older one said she would weave a mat like it out of pandanus, ‘as we weave our hunting bags, only for the nganmarra we will make a fringe all around like the fins or ripples that are round the edge of that great fish’s body. Then when we see our sacred nganmarra we will remember this giant sunfish, for it is a wonder out here in the deep water. 1 ‘Floating Life: Contemporary Aboriginal Fibre Art’ is an exhibition of forms, textures and images from the Queensland Art Gallery’s Collection that highlights the importance of fibre in Aboriginal culture. Classic, useful objects are contrasted with reconfigurations by contemporary makers and are linked with paintings and objects which further elucidate their subtle meanings. The exhibition covers a broad spectrum of artists and themes, as well as focused representations by key artists, illustrating the vitality and creativity of their practices. A younger generation is making exciting original works, while their elders maintain cultural links and continue to pursue their own creative paths in a dynamic artistic movement. The Gallery began developing its fibre art collection in earnest in 2002, and continued with important acquisitions of Queensland basketry for the major exhibition ‘Story Place: Indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest’ in 2003. The unique bicornual jawun from Jumbun, Lockhart River’s delicate grass puunya, and the black palm fibre kakan from Mossman Gorge defined a new direction, with fibre works becoming a serious collection focus. ‘Floating Life’ grew from there. A clear map of places and makers was imagined through which to chart directions, and through commissions, opportunities and synchronicity, a vision was realised. In an era when the handmade is becoming increasingly rare, we are reminded that Aboriginal people have been making practical and decorative fibre objects of great beauty and refinement for millennia. The simple, rhythmic act of spinning and weaving personal and ritual pieces has indeed contributed greatly to their comfort, happiness and pleasure, and we can see in ‘Floating Life’ that weaving remains relevant in their lives. 2 In ‘Floating Life’, Yvonne Koolmatrie, Lena Yarinkura and Shirley MacNamara are three artists for whom weaving is vital. After a life of nurturing, learning and teaching, weaving has been healing for Yvonne Koolmatrie in difficult times. It can also be a tool, with the potential to chip away at prejudices and negative attitudes towards her people. Reflecting on her experiences at the Venice Biennale in 1997, where she showed her monumental grass sculptures in ‘Fluent: Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Yvonne Koolmatrie, Judy Watson’, she saw the potential for change through weaving, which she describes as ‘a quiet revolution’. On her return from Venice to Australia, she found strength in reverie by the lower Murray River, observing the majestic scarred river gums where ancestors had long ago carved out bark canoes, and was moved to make a shallow coil-woven replica. After seeing hot-air balloons on a visit to Mildura in 2004, Koolmatrie made a version fashioned from river rushes. Strand by strand, she built the rounded shape, with subtle gradations in the colour of the rushes gracing its spare form. Beautifully proportioned, with its basket attached with plied grass string, Hot-air balloon 2006 appears to be filled with hot air and ready for flight. Joyce Gumburrawuy Gandangu Galpu people NT b.1955 Ceremonial string bag (detail) 1997 Bark fibre string with feathers 75 x 24 x 3cm (with handle) Acc. 2008.278 Purchased 2008 with funds from Margaret Mittelheuser, am , and Cathryn Mittelheuser, am , through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation