Lorna Jin-gubarrangunyja

Biography

Lorna Jin-gubarrangunyja was born in 1952. She is a Burarra fibre artist, living at Yilan outstation, who has been regularly producing artworks for Maningrida Arts and Culture since the 1980s. She was often making colourful twined pandanus dilly bags, mats, string bags and baby shade covers. In 1995, she participated in a landmarks touring fibre exhibition Maningirda: the language of weaving which featured two fish traps by Burarra male artist Raymond Walabirr (now deceased). This exhibition aimed at repositioning fibre production into the fine art category. It succeeded at some levels but it failed in changing the overall perception of fibre art by the general public or commercial galleries. For example, no one offered to do a commercial fibre show dedicated to the production of mats or baskets after this major exhibition. In 2002, Jin-gubarrangunyja made her first fish trap, learning this technique from her husband George Ganyjibala, as traditionally men were making fish traps. She now uses fish trap forms as the basis for sculptural works of art. Jin-gubarrangunyja innovates with forms and colours, using diverse weaving techniques to make sculptures that have their origin in the traditional fish trap techniques. The utilitarian purpose of the fish trap is no longer the main focus of her production. She re-explores traditional techniques to create contemporary and innovative works of art and works with diverse fibre such as pandanus (pandanus spiralis) that she dyes with natural colors, jungle vine (Malaisia scandens) and grass (cyperus javanicus).

A year after her first attempt at making a fish trap, in 2003, Jin-gubarrangunyja won the Wandjuk Marika Award at the 20th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) with a colourful pandanus fish trap. She is now recognised as a leading fibre artist and participates regularly in group exhibitions in commercial galleries. Interestingly enough, her fish trap production has generated an interest in her dilly bags that are now exhibited along with her fish trap forms. Through innovation and working on a bigger scale, Jin-gubarrangunyja has established herself as a successful fibre artist, gaining public recognition for her work and a financial income comparable with artists working in other media. She has also inspired other Maningrida artists to make fish traps. Now, more than 20 artists make fish trap forms on a regular basis, including three men who have switched from painting to fibre production in the last two years as they have realised that they were more succesful fibre artists than painters.

Languages

Burarra (Martay)

Community

Maningrida

Date of birth

1952-01-01

Past Exhibitions

Group

  • 2020
    Tarnanthi Art Fair, Lot Fourteen, Adelaide SA
  • 2020
    Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair 2020, Online
  • 2017
    Into the Water curated by Maningrida Arts & Culture, Tactile Arts, Darwin, NT
  • 2016
    NAISDA 40th Anniversary Auction, Auction night at Carriageworks, Sydney
  • 2010
    2010 Antipodes, Maningrida Fibre Antipodes, Sorrento, VIC
  • 2009
    2009 Works in Season:, Works in Season: Bark Paintings, Carvings & Weavings, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
  • 2008
    2008 Interwoven, Interwoven, Indigenart, Perth, WA
  • 2008
    Palya Art, Palya Art at Mary Place, Mary Place, Sydney, NSW
  • 2007
    2007 Aboriginal objects, Aboriginal objects, sculpture & bush toys, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney
  • 2006
    Freestyle, Freestyle, new australian design for living, Melbourne Museum, VIC
  • 2005
    2005 Art Right Now: Festive Fibre: mats, baskets and banumbin from Arnhem Land, Fibreforms, Grantpirre Gallery, Sydney, NSW
  • 2004
    2004 Hogarth galleries, Bark paintings, carvings and fibre works from Maningrida, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
  • 2004
    2004 Fibre and sculptures, Indigenart, Fremantle, WA, Fibre and sculptures, Indigenart, Fremantle, WA
  • 2004
    2004 Divas of the desert, Divas of the desert: Maningrida, Minymaku, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, NT
  • 2003
    2003 Threads of time, Threads of time, Burrinja gallery, Upwey, VIC
  • 2003
    2003 20th Telstra National Abortiginal & Torres Strait Islander Art award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. Winner of the Wandjuk Marika 3D Memorial Award, 20th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander art award, Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
  • 2003
    2003 Maningrida threads, Museum of Contemporary art, Maningrida threads, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW
  • 1999
    1999, Maningrida 1999, Maningrida Fire-works Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
  • 1998
    1998, Maningrida Weavings, Maningrida Weavings Framed Gallery, Darwin, NT
  • 1995
    1995, Maningrida:The Language of Weaving, Maningrida: The Language of Weaving A.E.T.A Touring Exhibition throughout Australia and New Zealand

Collections

  • Macquarie Bank Art Collection
  • Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
  • Myer Foundation, Melbourne, VIC
  • Museum of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC