Mary Dhapalany
Mary Dhapalany
Mewana (Bush Basket or Scoop)
60 x 20cm, mewana grass, 2024.
Mewana is used for making bags and baskets when collecting food near the swamp areas and is also sometimes used to bind fish traps. Foods that were collected include warraga (Cycad nuts), räkay (Water chestnuts), djitama (yams). These types of bags or baskets were sometimes used when soaking cycad nuts in fresh water to leach out toxins. Mewana grass is used to make ceremonial dilly bags which are passed down from generation to generation and less likely to get mould or rot in the intense tropical climate.
Mary is a proud Mandhalpuy woman has been a practicing artist for four decades, and her weaving artwork is representative of traditional craft passed down through generations of women weavers in her family. Mary uses natural dyes, extracted from earth pigment or plant roots, to colour the pandanus leaf (gunga) used in her work. Mary is considered a master weaver in Arnhem Land. Due to her career and accolades, she has made Yolngu weaving visible.