Floating life: contemporary Aboriginal fibre art

19 In an early nineteenth-century painting published in South Australia Illustrated , George Angus depicts an Aboriginal family in their shelter constructed from curved whale bones. A timeless domestic scene shows a woman chewing reeds to soften them, and her husband rolling the prepared fibres into cord on his thigh. A large string fishing net lies rolled on top of their dwelling. 9 The anthropologist FD McCarthy brought to public attention a playful use of string. In the course of his travels in 1948 with the American–Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land, he became fascinated with the local ‘bush’ string figures and collected and documented 196 of these, now held in the Australian Museum, Sydney. These simple constructions, evocative of daily life and concerns, include a cross-shoulder strap, armbands, string bags, a twined basket, bark containers, fish nets, fish traps, and many other domestic and cultural subjects. 10 ‘Floating Life’ includes numerous variations on the uses of string: ritual feathered strings, wrapped string yam emblems, banumbirr (morning star) poles, armbands, bags and nets. And there are representations of string as well. Yidinyji artist Michael Boiyool Anning, has depicted a hand-held fishing net design in ochre pigments on the surface of his rainforest shield. Anning’s name connects him to fibre and to string — ‘Boiyool’ is a piece of lawyer cane used to stir a naturally occurring drug in a waterhole to stun fish, which are then easily caught in string nets. The elderly Yam sisters of Kowanyama in north Queensland now use polypropylene rope — unravelled, respun and looped into stunning bags. At times, they contrast the fine texture and reticent beauty of bark twine with the hardy brilliance of synthetic fibres. As well as being durable in a harsh environment, the women enjoy the colourful element the synthetic fibre provides. In all of these varied uses across the country, string remains central to fibre art. Narrative and performance Objects, stories and performance are integral to an Aboriginal sense of identity. Oral narrative is central to performance, and objects are part of performance. Forms meaningful in the theatre of daily lives evolve, and new forms are invented which still remain firmly embedded within performative events. For instance, Michael Boiyool Anning tells of trade between his inland Queensland rainforest people and those from the coast — honey and bush foods were left in exchange for salt and shining fish scales. Young men moved through complex dance sequences, the scales adhering to their bodies. They wore feathered ornaments in their hair, pearlshell necklaces and danced holding dramatically patterned shields and large hardwood swords. Similarly, while Alan Griffiths’s balmarra (thread-cross dance frames) are impressive in a gallery display, the objects hold their greatest power when used as theatrical devices in ritual performances, held high by the dancers. Although striking coloured wool has replaced the former ochred pandanus threads, balmarra still embody important themes of country, constellations, spirits and ancestors. ‘. . . the framework of the crosses is the bone, ornad, of the ancestor–dancer, while the wool is the flesh of the ancestor–dancer’s body.’ 11 Opposite Gali Yalkarriwuy Gurruwiwi Galpu people NT b.1942 Banumbirr (Morning star string) (detail) 2000 Bark fibre string with feathers 10 x 14 x 610cm Acc. 2008.271 Purchased 2008 with funds from Margaret Mittelheuser, am , and Cathryn Mittelheuser, am , through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Margaret Yam Olkola/Egng ochow people QLD b.1949 Abmin (String bag) 2007 Knotted-netted polypropylene and bark fibre string 33 x 44cm Acc. 2008.181 Purchased 2008. The Queensland Government’s Gallery of Modern Art Acquisitions Fund