VALERIE YALGAYALGA - PANDANUS MAT
VALERIE YALGAYALGA
PANDANUS MAT, 2016
115 x 115 cm
Pandanus fibre and natural dyes
REGION
Arnhem Land, NT
PROVENANCE
Maningrida Arts and Culture, NT
Cooee Art Leven, NSW
STORY
This mat is made from natural, local materials sourced from West Arnhem Land. Weavers gather fresh young leaves from the pandanus palm using a hooked stick, then strip and dry them. The pandanus is then boiled up on the campfire with local plant dyes.
The old plant dyes used in Europe like indigo, saffron, woad and logwood fell out of use with the Industrial Revolution. But here, a natural “paintbox” thrives.The most common dyes include: Yellow-orange: Mandjurndum (the bright orange roots of the Pognolobus reticulatus bush) Brown: Wirdilwirdil (the red bulb of Haemadorum breviculae grass) Green: The growing shoot of the pandanus itself (Pandanus spiralis), boiled with the ashes of pandanus leaves.Purple-pink – Windilk (the seeds of the Haemodorum coccineum plant, related to Kangaroo Paw) Grey-Black – Manbedde (the leaves of the quinine bush, Petalostigma pubescens)
EXHIBITED
Caught in the Wind, July 2018, Cooee Art Paddington
ARTIST PROFILE
