Narbong 2009

Lorraine Connelly-Northey transforms abandoned remnants of rural industry into contemporary works of art by referring to Waradgerie (Wiradjuri) bag-making techniques. Her works often take their title from the Waradgerie language name for a string bag: narbong. The artist has explained her approach as a blending of the skills and attitudes of her parents: resourcefulness and thriftiness inherited from her Irish father, and traditional weaving inspired by her Aboriginal mother.

While early Waradgerie baskets were typically made from natural fibres, Connelly-Northey uses manufactured materials such as corrugated iron and fencing wire. These building products have been used since colonisation to enforce private ownership and land partitioning, and to confine First Australians, like the artist’s mother, who were forced to live on missions and reserves. Describing her use of fencing wire, Connelly-Northey said: ‘I thought about . . . how wire was used to keep Mum in, like sheep in a paddock, but also to keep her out of traditional Country’. Through reclaiming these materials and turning them into cultural treasures, her work embodies resistance and resilience.