Description
Size: 40 cm x 40 cm (16 x 16 inches)
Fabric: wool (front) and cotton (back)
Colour: the flat photo is colour accurate, the filled cushion is a little fluoro
Artist: Liddy Napanangka Walker
About the design: Wakirlpirri Jukurrpa (Dogwood Dreaming or Ancestral Creation Story)
The image expresses the hanging seedpods of the Wakirlpirri tree (Acacia coriacea). The seeds can be eaten raw or cooked on the fire and make a deliciously sweet drink called yinjirrpi. The wood of Wakirlpirri is dense and strong enough to make boomerangs.
“I paint my father Japangardi’s Dreaming and my grandfather’s Dreaming. Mt Theo is my father’s country and that’s what I’m painting the special Dreamings from. The Dreamings I paint are bush tomato, goanna….Goanna likes to fight and is a lover boy. And I paint seed pods and bush potato and hopping mouse. There are lots of stories… I paint strongly.”
Liddy was born in 1925 at Mt Doreen and died in 2017. She spent her younger years living with her family in bush camps. She regularly visited her country around Mt Theo, west of Yuendumu. She lived in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 kms north-west of Alice Springs, in the NT of Australia, since it was first established and worked in the community in various pastoral care roles including cooking for the sick or the elderly. She started painting on canvas not long after Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, was established in 1985 and Liddy became one of the most important members. Liddy painted her father’s Jukurrpa stories, Dreaming stories which relate directly to her land, its features and animals. These stories were passed down to her by her father and her grandfather and their parents before them for millennia.
About the BWA chainstitch kilim products
These beautiful, unique textiles are a cross-cultural collaboration combining Aboriginal designs and traditional Kashmiri rug-making techniques. Chain stitched, using hand dyed wool, each is a completely handmade piece. A more empowering way to work, this brings many direct benefits to the artists’ and their community. Control and ownership of intellectual property are also maintained. Purchase of these products guarantees a direct return to the Aboriginal artist and their community.
CARE INSTRUCTIONS: These cushion covers feel great and are fabulously hardwearing – we can vouch for that.
Do not put place/use in direct sunlight or colors may fade. To clean – dry cleaning recommended. It is possible with careful hand-wash in warm water using a wool detergent. Creases can be ironed out on a wool (low) steam setting.
