Floating life: contemporary Aboriginal fibre art

82 String: Sacred and secular Ruth McDougall Like the cord that connects us to early life, for many the experience of threads transformed into knitted, woven or stitched fabric evokes strong physical memories of warmth, comfort and nurture. Across Aboriginal Australia, objects created from string fibres plied from local barks provide this sense of life-sustaining connection. Perceived as providing a material link to nature and the spirit world, bark string is used to create objects essential to everyday and sacred life, and it plays a fundamental role in Aboriginal people’s sense of history and identity. In northern parts of Australia, poetic narratives and rock paintings some 40 000 years old tell of bags made from string which were carried by an ancestor spirit as she created the land and its people. Gathering materials from their country, Aboriginal women and men continue to manifest the creative actions and stories of these ancestors through their weaving, knotting, looping, coiling and wrapping of string. Even though they are linked to a traditional practice, Aboriginal string artists still exhibit a strong sense of personal expression. With the increasing availability of materials such as coloured wools, synthetic threads and commercial dyes, new and spectacular patterns are incorporated into both traditional and innovative forms. Created by artists from across Australia, the intricate works in ‘Floating Life’ exhibit a strong sensitivity towards materials, as well as the abstract potential of line and colour. Engaging with important personal and collective narratives, objects — from the mesmerisingly beautiful polypropylene string bags of the Yam sisters Clara, Margaret, Doreen and Mynor, to fish nets, innovative sculptural forms and ancestor figures — invite audience reflection as well as perpetuate knowledge of significant Margaret Djogiba Kunwinjku people NT b.1960 Djerrh (String bag) (detail) 2007 Loop-woven sand palm leaf string with natural dyes 66 x 31cm Acc. 2008.169 Purchased 2008. The Queensland Government’s Gallery of Modern Art Acquisitions Fund