EXPANDED LABEL: 2005.062 BAYPUNGALA
By Diane Moon
November 2005
This mat by Judy Baypungala was selected from the 2004 ‘21st Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award’. The artist has woven this circular mat in a twined technique using shades of rich gold and orange pandanus strands. The pandanus has been coloured with dyes extracted from the root bark of djundum (Coelospermum reticulatum), a small tree commonly found in eastern Arnhem Land. Baypungala has used a stitch in which the warp threads are bound by the twined weft fibres, with two tightly woven areas contrasting with the overall lacy open weave. In some Yolngu languages in eastern Arnhem Land, this stitch is known as ‘Buyu-gadagada’. The mat is finished with a dramatic fringe of untrimmed warp threads. The flattened round mats now commonly made in Arnhem Land, a specialty for Judy Baypungala, are derived from Nganiyal, the conical pandanus forms used in rituals and ceremonies. Missionary influences have contributed to a change towards making these weavings more ‘useful’ for a market distanced from their source.
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Mat 2004
- BAYPUNGALA, Judy - Creator
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