An-gujechiya (Fish Trap)

 DETAILS

• Size: 130cm x 19cm x 19cm
• Artist: Maureen Ali
• Art Centre: Maningrida Arts and Culture 
• Cat No. 133-22
• Pandanus (Pandanus Spiralis) and Bush Cane (Flagellaria Indica) with Natural Dyes.

ARTIST

Jennifer Brown is from Maningrida but she grow up in Yilan Outstation and also in Jimardi Outstation which is Blyth river in Maningrida remote Community. Jennifer has been weaving when she was out 30 years of age and taught by her mother Mary Ngalmilaga. Jennifer has been making Mats, Dillybags, and a fish-traps so far this year and looking forward to do some weaving again.

ABOUT

To make fish traps and fish net fences artists firstly get vine (mirlarl) from the jungle and they put it in water for one night to make it soft. Next they start weaving it; they make rings for the inside to keep the fish trap’s shape.

Artists work for three or four weeks on the fish trap. They also make string from kurrajong (burdaga) to attach the hibiscus (bardainy) rings and to tie the conical end of the fish trap. This fish trap is used in saltwater and freshwater. People also use fish net fences called mun-dirra. A long time ago they would put the mun-dirra across rivers and creeks. In the middle they would place the an-gujechiya. They also used small things like sticks, rocks, mud and grass to block the fish from going through. People would then catch fish like saltwater barramundi rajarra, freshwater barramundi (janambal), small black freshwater catfish (buliya), bonefish (an-guwirrpiya), and sand bass (dalakan) in these fish traps.

ART CENTRE

Maningrida Arts & Culture is a pre-eminent site of contemporary cultural expression and art-making, abundant with highly collectable art and emerging talent.

Through their homelands resource organisation, Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, artists turned an art trade that began just over 50 years ago into a multi-million dollar arts and cultural enterprise. Maningrida Arts & Culture supported hundreds of artists on their homelands, more than 20 artworkers, held 20 exhibitions annually, won prestigious awards, and enjoyed the international fame and success that the boom in the Aboriginal art market of the 1990s and 2000s enabled.