Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA)
Deborah Wurrkidj’s work Ngaye nga-bengkan I have that knowledge) 2019 was finalist in the 2019 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA).
“This work has been created using silk stained with native botanicals in Arnhem Land. Deborah has a lifetime of experience dying pandanus, however this is the first time she has used ‘bush colour’ dye for purpose of dying woven fibres at the Babbarra Women’s Centre.
The process of collecting the botanicals is laborious. The yellow tone is from the root of the man-kurdudjumuk (coelospermum reticulatum), dug out in the sandy country near flood plains. Blue-silver is from the man-djurlukkun (antidesma ghesaembilla), a delicious red/purple berry, only occurring for a few weeks after the wet season. The rusty tone is from windilk (haemodorum coccineum), a flower which grows in the stone country.
After dying the fabrics, Deborah has printed various hand carved lino titles over the silks using metallic silver ink. The designs relate to women’s knowledge of country and environment- pandanus woven mats, dilly bags, water lily, pandanus trees, water hole and woven baskets.
“I was learning from the old people. I was taught by my grandma and the old women that dyeing story, same way I’m doing it with manburrbarr (fabric)- same leaves, same flowers, and same roots.
My grandmother told me, you don’t have to do it balanda (non- Aboriginal) way, you can do it our Aboriginal way. We have colour in our country, we know where it lives- our rock country and the flood plain way. Our plants- she will make lots of different colours, you just have to look.
We can eat the man-djurlukkun (native currant) for bush tucker, but also I was thinking, like my mind, I could use this manme (bush food) for dyeing. This is really the first time we have ever used this berry for dying- this year, 2019. I saw how good that colour looked I had that idea to use it at Babbarra on silk- but I had to stop those kids from eating those berries first- true story!”
Text by Deborah Wurrkidj and Ingrid Johanson, 2019
‘Ngaye nga-bengkan (I have that knowledge)’ 2019 natural dyes from man-kurdudjumuk (Coelospermum reticulatum), man-djurlukkun (Antidesma ghesaembilla) and windilk (Haemodorum coccineum) on silk with metallic fabric ink 140 x 300 cm (overall)
2023
Uplands: Digital Project
Ended on
UPLANDS is an immersive digital project that has been designed to celebrate Indigenous Art Centres and share Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artistic and cultural practices with the world. This large scale immersive digital mapping project features over twenty remote Indigenous Art Centres, and interviews with over 150 Indigenous artists and arts workers from across
Manburrba: Our story of printed cloth from Babbarra Women’s Centre
Ended on — at CDU Gallery
Charles Darwin University Art Gallery will be teeming with bold and colourful hand-printed textiles as it present the exhibition Manburrba: our story of printed cloth from Bábbarra Women’s Centre. This exhibition celebrates the creative journey undertaken by Maningrida women over the past 37 years. This survey exhibition features more than 85 striking and colourful hand-printed
Feared and Revered: Feminine Power through the Ages
Ended on — at National Museum of Australia
Feared and Revered: Feminine Power through the Ages celebrates the power and diversity of female spiritual beings in cultural traditions and beliefs across the globe. This exhibition from the British Museum explores how goddesses, demons, witches, spirits and saints have shaped our understanding of the world. Babbara artsits Janet Marawarr, Deborah Wurrkidj and Jay Jurrupula Rostron
EXHIBITION / Dórdbalk kómabba (everything’s good!)
Ended on — at Laundry Gallery
JULY 2023 EXHIBITION / DÓRDBALK KÓMABBA / EVERYTHING’S GOOD! / BÁBBARRA LADIES Dórdbalk kómabba (everything’s good) is the story of revival and resilience. And of a family of women who work together day in day out, sharing the joys of making the artworks that share the stories of their world. The COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 made
Jarracharra in South India
Ended on — at Bangalore International Centre
Following exhibitions in Kolkata, Mumbai, and New Delhi, the Jarracharra exhibition concluded its tour of India with a triumphant showing in Chennai and Bengaluru in south India. The Australian Consulate-General, Chennai, hosted the exhibition in Chennai from 6 to 17 April and in Bengaluru on 17-25 May. Speaking at the launch events, Ms Sarah Kirlew, Australian
NEW EXUBERANCE: CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN TEXTILE DESIGN
Ended on — at JAM FACTORY
New Exuberance: contemporary Australian textile design is a major touring exhibition project reflecting on current directions in textile practice through art, design and fashion. Curated by Meryl Ryan in consultation with the JamFactory team, the exhibition presents the work of more than thirty diverse multidisciplinary creatives and includes ten commissioned furniture pieces produced by designers
Bawaliba Homeland by Lucy Yarawanga
Ended on — at Laundry Gallery
Bulanjdjan Lucy Yarawanga has been exhibiting in group shows with Babbarra Women’s Centre and Maningrida Arts & Culture over recent years. Bawaliba Homeland will be Lucy’s first solo exhibition showcasing a large body of works on paper depicting the lives of Bawaliba at their homeland near Djinkarr, Central Arnhem Land. “I have painted the Bawaliba homeland. For people
Rising Stars 2023 at Outstation Gallery
Ended on — at Outstaion Gallery
This year the women are rising – from Babbarra Women’s Centre, Papulankutja Artists, Spinifex Arts Project and Mimili Maku Arts. Strong in story, passed down from mother and grandmother, the works in this year’s Rising Stars are phenomenal. Betty Campbell from Mimili Maku has already attracted a huge following after only a year painting, and
Young Daluk x Babbarra (part 1) – Youth Fashion and Design workshop with KIVARI the Label
Ended on — at Babbarra Women's Centre
Young Daluk x Babbarra is project developed by Babbarra Women’s Centre, designed to create career pathways into the Australian Fashion Industry for young women in Maningrida Community. In February of 2023, Designer Taylor Barnard and Patter Maker/Sewer Angela Piper from Kivari the Label and Babbarra artist/National Indigenous Fashion Award winner Esther Yarllarlla, facilitated a 2-week
Jarracharra at the Indian Museum Kolkata
Ended on — at Indian Museum
In 2019, five Aboriginal artists from Maningrida, West Arnhem Land, travelled to Paris to open their exhibition of Bábbarra Designs textiles at the Australian Embassy. This journey caused a stir across the indigenous textile and fashion sector and brought international attention to the remote Bábbarra Women’s Centre. Three years later, Jarracharra (Dry Season Wind) arrived
2022
Screen Print development workshop at Gorrong Gorrong homeland
Ended on — at Gorrong Gorrong Homeland
Design Workshop on Gorrong Gorrong country 2022 In October 2022 we camped on the peaceful Outstation of Gorrong Gorrong, Arnhem Land to create new screen print designs away from Maningrida town life. Emerging and senior Babbarra Designs artists worked day and night alongside design facilitator Bobbie Ruben. New designs describing ancient stories emerged. As always
Salon des Refusés – Babbarra Texta
Ended on — at Gallery 5
Every August, Salon Art Projects presents the Salon des Refusés, an exhibition of works submitted but not accepted into the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA). Its quality demonstrates the superb standard of art being created by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists nationwide, and it also provides valuable insight into where the
Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair 2022
Ended on — at Darwin Convention Centre
In August of 2022 10 Babbarra artists and 2 managers travelled to Darwin to be part of Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair. It was the first in-person event run by DAAF fair since 2019 due to the effects of COVID-19. The team had an incredible time taking part in Public Programs and the National Indigenous Fashion
Bábbarra Designs: Material stories by women of Arnhem Land
Ended on — at Art Gallery Of Western Australia
On display at the Art Gallery of Western Australia is a selection of Bábbarra Designs’ exquisite hand-printed textiles that tell the ancestral stories of Bábbarra’s Arnhem Land country and cultures. Initially established as a women’s refuge in 1983, the Bábbarra Women’s Centre is now an established art centre with a strong focus on professional development and providing
Aboriginal Screen-Printed Textiles from Australia’s Top End
Ended on — at Fowler Museum - UCLA
This exhibition takes us on a journey around Northern Australia, known as the “Top End,” and invites us to explore more than 70 distinctive, screen-printed textiles made by contemporary artists at five Aboriginal-owned art centres. Since the 1960s, these textiles have become a vibrant medium for Indigenous expression, perpetuating traditional knowledge and reinvigorating its visual
Jarracharra: Dry Season Wind at Expo 2020
Ended on — at World Expo Dubai
Jarracharra: Dry Season Wind at Expo 2020 Jarracharra: dry season wind showcases a powerful collection of Aboriginal women’s textile art from the Maningrida region in Western Arnhem Land, Australia. This exhibition features women pushing artistic barriers to depict ancient narratives using contemporary mediums. Women’s deep and intrinsic cultural knowledge runs through all the works in
Mabbúlarr (calm, still water) – Water Tower Series
Ended on — at Nightcliff Water Tower
MABBÚLARR JOY GARLBIN & JOSEPHINE JAMES (BÁBBARRA WOMEN’S CENTRE) Mabbúlarr tells the story of the turtle we call marláddja (green sea turtle) and the stingray we call marnandjúbba (cowtail stingray). The film is an abstracted story linking the traditional hunting method of the sea turtle to the ceremonial dance, MiÍddjarn. Artists Josephine James and her
2021
Rekkan / Tamuwu / Nyinakati (sit/sit down)
Ended on — at JAM FACTORY
Rekkan / Tamuwu / Nyinakat (sit/sit down) showcases the vitality and exuberance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander textile design by interpreting Indigenous fabric onto contemporary upholstered furniture. Across three exciting creative collaborations, diverse Indigenous textile artists have worked directly with South Australian furniture and product designers to produce a series of chairs that offer
Jarracharra: Dry Season Wind in Berlin
Ended on — at Australian Embassy Germany
JARRACHARRA: DRY SEASON WIND AT THE AUSTRALIAN EMBASSY BERLIN The Australian Embassy Berlin in cooperation with curator Laura Thompson, is pleased to present ‘Jarracharra: dry season wind’ at the Australian Embassy from 8 November 2021. ‘Jarracharra: dry season wind’ brings together a selection of textile works from the Bábbarra Women’s Centre. Situated in Western Arnhem Land
CONTEMPORARY INDIGENOUS TEXTILES FROM AUSTRALIA’S TROPIC ZONE
Ended on — at Cairns Art Gallery
This landmark exhibition, presents exciting new hand-printed Indigenous textiles from remote communities across far north Australia. Community-led Aboriginal Art Centres in the Northern Territory first explored screen-printed textiles as a new creative medium in the 1960s. Today, these textiles are a nationally and internationally acclaimed form of cultural expression that provides sustainable economic, cultural, and
Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award
Ended on — at WTCA Wangaratta Art Gallery
The Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award is a biennial acquisitive award & exhibition celebrating the diversity and strength of Australia’s textile artistry. This biennial nationally significant award has been presented by Wangaratta Art Gallery since 2009, and will again be a showcase of textile artistry and talent from across Australia. Wangaratta has a long and prominent
Piinpi: Contemporary Indigenous Fashion
Ended on — at National Museum of Australia
Piinpi: Contemporary Indigenous Fashion is a celebration of Indigenous art, history and culture through contemporary fashion and design. It brings together a selection of garments and textiles by First Nations designers and artists from around Australia. ‘Piinpi’ is an expression that Kanichi Thampanyu (First Nations people from the East Cape York Peninsula) use to describe
Lineage
Ended on — at Delmar Gallery
Lineage celebrates the significant creative force of contemporary women artists from the Maningrida region in Arnhem Land NT, working across the media of fibre, fabric printing and paper. The Maningrida region in Arnhem Land is one of the most linguistically diverse places in the world, with 12 distinct languages spoken by over 110
Parrtjima – A festival of Light
Ended on — at Northern Territory Major Events Company
Parrtjima is the meeting place where old meets new. It is the only authentic Aboriginal light festival of it’s kind, showcasing the oldest continuous culture on earth through the newest technology – all on the 300-million-year-old natural canvas of the MacDonnell Ranges in Central Australia. Each year this free event celebrates the ways in which
JARRACHARRA: DRY SEASON WIND / VIENTO DE LA ESTACIÓN SECA
Ended on — at Museo Nacional de Antropología, Madrid (ES)
The exhibition Jarracharra: dry season wind / Les vents de la saison sèche by Babbarra Women’s Centre has travelled from Paris to the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, and now to the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Madrid, Spain. The Museo Nacional de Antropología is hosting Jarracharra from 3 Dec 2020 – 14 Feb 2021. In addition, there
2020
Piinpi: Contemporary Indigenous Fashion
Ended on — at Bendigo Art Gallery
Piinpi: Contemporary Indigenous Fashion brings together a selection of garments and textiles by First Nations designers and artists from around Australia. The first major survey of contemporary Indigenous Australian fashion to be undertaken in this country, Piinpi sheds lights on a growing industry which is blossoming and set to become Australia’s major fashion movement. Piinpi:
Kunmadj
Ended on — at Japingka Aboriginal Art
The exhibition theme showcases ancient and contemporary knowledge, and reflects the craft associated with the dilly bag which is both a sacred ceremonial symbol and a utilitarian object. The women artists produce many various screen print designs depicting fish traps and dilly bags in different styles and formats, using all natural fibres in silks, linens
Jarracharra: dry season winds
Ended on — at Embassy of Australia, Paris
Opening in Paris on the 3rd October, we are incredibly proud to present Jarracharra. Jarracharra: dry season wind showcases a powerful collection of Aboriginal women’s textile art from the Maningrida region in Western Arnhem Land, Australia. This exhibition features women pushing artistic barriers to depict ancient narratives using contemporary mediums. Women’s deep and intrinsic cultural
2019
Yúbburr-yubburr: dusk
Ended on — at Euroa Butter Factory
Yúbburr-yubburr: Dusk brings together well-known female artists from the homelands of Arnhem Land. Their colourful and expressive hand printed fabrics integrate time-honoured traditions of art making with contemporary imagery. ‘We think to the ancestors. We think to our culture. The paperback canoe, the yam designs, fishtraps woven- they are all stories from our people. We watch
36th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards
Ended on — at MAGNT
Deborah Wurrkidj- Ngaye nga-bengkan (I have that knowledge) This work has been created using silk stained with native botanicals in Arnhem Land. Deborah has a lifetime of experience dying pandanus, however this is the first time she has used ‘bush colour’ dye for purpose of dying woven fibres at the Babbarra Women’s Centre. The process
KUN-WARAL: spirit shadows
Ended on — at The Project Space - Salon
Kun-waral, a collaboration between Bábbarra Women’s Centre and Maningrida Arts & Culture, refers to the shadow or memory of powerful beings who transformed as they moved across country, before humans arrived. In the same way, the artists in this show transform and move across artistic mediums, presenting Japanese woodblock prints, etchings, linocuts on fabric and pandanus woven panels.
Bábbarra Design at the Tour de France
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For the 2019 Tour de France, Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) contacted Bábbarra Women’s Centre in order to licence Jennifer Wurrkidj’s design, for SBS presenters to wear during the Tour de France broadcasting on international television. SBS had jerseys made in Sydney, and distributed them to the team where they were worn proudly by staff and crew
Bábbarra: The Studio
Ended on — at Art Gallery of South Australia
To complement John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new , Bábbarra Designs in Maningrida have transformed the Studio with bold and colourful hand-printed textiles. Inspired by the plants and animals of Arnhem Land, experiment with repeating patterns to create your own layered design and learn the Kuninjku name for your favourite Australian animal! Presented by
2018
Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award
Ended on — at Fremantle Arts Centre
Jennifer Wurrkidj’s ‘Kurulk Kare (Going Underground) was a finalist. This year the 43rd annual Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award supported by Little Creatures Brewing presents the best of Australian printmaking. Australia’s premier showcase of prints and artists’ books returns with a selection of works from established, emerging and cross-disciplinary artists from across the nation.
Ngaldjorlhbo – Mother of Everything
Ended on — at IDAIA - International Development for Indigenous Arts
Ngaldjorlhbo | Mother of Everything | Mère de Toute Création Showcasing the art of the women artists from the Aboriginal community of Maningrida, in Western Arnhem Land (Australia), this is the first exhibition focusing on their multi-disciplinary artistic creative process in Paris, France. Co-curated with leading senior artists and sisters Deborah Wurrkidj and Jennifer Wurrkidj, and
Blak Design Matters
Ended on — at Koori Heritage Trust
As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander designers are leading a movement away from collaborative or consultative models to Indigenous-led design, this survey exhibition showcases contemporary Indigenous design projects from across Australia. From fashion, interiors, and product design to landscape, architecture and town planning, the exhibited projects will interrogate how Indigenous design is defined, received, and made visible
King and Wood Mallesons Award – Contemporary Art Prize
Ended on — at NSW Parliament House
Raylene Bonson’s ‘Wubbunj’ was one of 32 finalists. The purpose of the King & Wood Mallesons Award – Contemporary ATSI Art Prize is to acknowledge the outstanding contribution made to Australian culture by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists in remote, regional and urban areas throughout Australia working in wall hung two or three dimensional
Damibila Mimah – Bush Food Focus
Ended on — at Aboriginal Bush Traders
This exhibition focuses on the extensive knowledge of the propagation, harvesting, preparation and storage of bush foods held by Aboriginal people from different communities around the NT. Damibila in Gulumoerrgin (Larrakia) means ‘Barramundi’ and is also the name given to the season that signals the start of the dry season in the Top End. Mimah means food in Gulumoerrgin;
Karrang Kunred – Mother Land
Ended on — at The Cross Art Projects
Opening: Friday 20th April 2018 at 6 pm Karrang Kunred/Mother Land unites three senior Kuninjku women of the Kurulk clan who are closely related: sisters Jennifer Wurrkidj and Deborah Wurrkidj and aunt Susan Marawarr. Artistic boundaries are pushed in this exhibition by connecting traditional bark paintings and lorrkon alongside experimental textile prints. Karrang Kunred in Kuninjku means
2017
Bábbarra: Women Printing Culture
Ended on — at The Cross Art Projects
Women Printing Culture Bábbarra Designs, a contemporary art textile centre in the community of Maningrida, is Aboriginal owned and governed, run by women for women. It is one of a small group of Indigenous textile-producing art centres in Australia that design, print and sew product onsite, in community. Each silk-screened length of fabric is a
Big Mob Daluk
Ended on — at Central Craft
Karridjowkke Kunronj – Crossing Streams
Ended on — at Nomad Art
Karridjowkke Kunronj – Crossing Streams brings together five established female artists from the Kuninjku homelands of western Arnhem Land. The works integrate time-honoured traditions of art making with contemporary imagery. Deborah Wurrkidj, Jennifer Wurrkidj, Susan Marawarr, Helen Lanyinwanga and Melba Gunjarrwanga, are women of the stone country surrounding the remote homeland of Mumeka, who work with both Babbarra Designs and
Into the Water
Ended on — at Tactile Arts
An immersive exhibition that delves into the waters of Arnhem Land. Through the storytelling of contemporary fibre artists of the larger Maningrida region, this exhibition presents a world abundant with totemic ancestors and beings, animals and the various technologies used to hunt. Featuring installations and fibre sculptures by senior artists including Lulu Laradjbi, Anniebell Marrngnamarrnga, Frewa Bardaluna, Vera
Wiwa Bábbarra – Sacred Ground
Ended on — at ANU School of Art
The title for this exhibition ‘Wiwa Babbarra: Sacred Ground’ was chosen, with formal permissions from the traditional land owner and djunkai (land caretaker) of the land Babbarra. Babbarra billabong is a place of high sacred significance south of the community of Maningrida, and is also the namesake of our Women’s Centre. ‘Wiwa’ means my country,
2016
Beyond the Surface: New Textiles and Ceramics
Ended on — at Cairns Art Gallery
Beyond the Surface: New Textiles and Ceramics explores the diverse ways in which images and designs are applied to contemporary ceramics, textiles and furniture as an aesthetic expression of culture and identity. A new initiative of the Gallery, Beyond the Surface brings together recent works produced by a selection of outstanding Indigenous and non-Indigenous ceramists, textile artists and
2014
2014 Indigenous Fashion Week
Ended on
In April this year, Babbarra Designs was invited to present at Sydney’s inaugural Australian Indigenous Fashion Week’s Design Forum Creative Lab Sessions. An overarching theme for the forum was the building of ethical frameworks for design collaborations between fashion designers and Indigenous fabric producers. The women from Babbarra Designs spoke about their collaboration with Sydney Indigenous
Intertwined: Pandanus Fibre, Culture and Design
Ended on — at Tactile Arts
Marebu and Mukuy: The centerpiece of the exhibition will be a pandanus mat and baskets showing the traditional technique of weaving pandanus to create cultural objects. This will establish a visual link between the adaptation of traditional pandanus weaving to designs on fabric from Maningrida, and the creation of the sculptural Mukuy spirit beings from
2013
Telling Stories on Fabric
Ended on — at ANU School of Art
This exhibition showcases the fine Indigenous textile art by the women of Maningrida in Central Arnhem Land. The work of these textile artists depicts many different ‘stories’. These stories relate to the landscape, dreaming stories, bush foods and bush crafts from ‘on country’. The variation in subject matter reflects the different cultural identity of the
Selling Yarns 3: weaving the nation’s story
Ended on — at National Museum of Australia
Selling Yarns 3: Weaving the nation’s story was a four-day event that presented a conference, a market day, workshops, an exhibition and associated activities program, and launched the inaugural Indigenous Art Film program. As the premier national forum for Indigenous textile and fibre in the country it was supported by the Centenary of Canberra, drawing people
2009
Momentum: 18th Tamworth Fibre Textile Biennial
Ended on — at Tamworth Regional Gallery
Curated by Valerie Kirk, Head of Textiles at the Australian National University. The theme for the Biennial was the gathering of momentum and ideas in response to evolving current technologies in textiles. “History and Tradition have not been negated. On the contrary, there is a reawakened interest in preserving knowledge and expertise, respecting past traditions