Floating life: contemporary Aboriginal fibre art

94 95 Judy Baypungala: weaver Diane Moon For many years, Judy Baypungala lived at her remote Arnhem Land home, imagining the potential for beauty in spiky pandanus leaves, tough grasses and barks. As one of the wives of Dr David Malangi Daymirringu (1927–99), she and her dynamic extended family resided at Yathalamarra, ten kilometres north of Ramingining. As a renowned artist, her husband attracted many Australian and international visitors, including researchers, curators, filmmakers and photographers; all were enthralled by the energy and creativity at Yathalamarra. Following his death, Baypungala joined family members at Nangalala on the Glyde River. True to custom in north-east Arnhem Land, Malangi had four wives, 1 and Baypungala’s co-wives Rosie (Rodji) Wurdam, Margaret Gindjimirri and Elsie Ganbada were also very talented weavers. Each developed an individual style and focus in their work, though very much in the distinctive Yathalamarra aesthetic. In 1984, working in the shade of edible cabbage tree palms, the family collaborated in making a lipalipa, a canoe dug out of a large kapok tree with a hand-held adze, according to the laws and specifications taught by Macassan visitors to the region. This is now in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. The wellspring of life at Yathalamarra has always been the lagoon — an expansive, shining arc of fresh water nestled into soft grasses, with a surrounding tea-tree forest. Though the raw materials for weaving grow lush and plentiful there, collecting can be hot, hard work, and Baypungala would often take pleasure in a cool evening swim with her family amongst fragrant waterlilies. Yathalamarra is the place of the mewana, an elemental open- weave collecting bag twined from sedge grass, and Baypungala makes these for sale and also for her own use. A much-loved mewana develops character over time, its bulbous, darkening form becoming saturated with fish and animal blood and the tang of wood smoke — perfect for carrying and storing bush foods and to sift and flush impurities away. Baypungala’s elegant contemporary works are rooted in the stories of ancestral creators and their travels across the region, often in the form of bags, baskets and mats. After shaping the landscape and giving birth to the first people, they instilled languages and the laws for a rich and peaceful life, before depositing their spiritual essence in revered sacred sites. Though her public profile has grown through her works in important collections and gallery exhibitions, Baypungala also makes richly feathered ceremonial baskets and adornments and the strings used in annual clan maradjirri rites. Through her mastery of classical techniques, she extends the creative possibilities for her three-dimensional forms so they become independent creative works. Baypungala dyes prepared filaments of leaf and bark fibre with an infusion of colour extracted from local plants. The root bark of djundum ( Coelospermum reticulatum ), a small tree commonly found in Arnhem Land, gives a bright yellow colour; the addition of clean, white ashes carefully collected after fires have passed through the savanna bush changes the yellow strands to shades of orange and red. Then, displaying the fluid movements of an assured artisan, Baypungala rolls, plies and twines the strands into perfect baskets, bags and mats — monumental forms with bold blocks or bands of sharply contrasting colour. Mindirr are iconic Arnhem Land baskets for collecting and personal use, a signature form for Baypungala which she makes often from pandanus palm leaves. These may be left in their natural state, or coloured with ochres or plant dyes. Packing the twined, weft threads tightly conceals the warp, braces Judy Baypungala Wurlaki people NT b.1941 Circular mat 2004 Twined pandanus palm leaf with natural dyes 307cm (diam.) Acc. 2005.062 Purchased 2005. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Grant © Judy Baypungala 2004. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney, 2009