Bony Bream

Artist Yvonne Koolmatrie (1944)

Date2001

Object number00032969

NameSculpture

MediumSedge rushes, echidna spines

DimensionsOverall: 180 x 75 x 400 mm, 0.3 kg

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

Ngarrindjeri

DescriptionThis fish sculpture was made by Yvonne Koolmatrie of the Ngarrindjeri tribe, Yvonne has extended traditional basketry techniques to create three-dimensional sculptural forms. Her marine creatures are based on her own ancestral stories and the lore of the Ngarrindjeri. Made in Murgon, Queensland (artist was up there with her partner Duncan who came form up that way).HistoryYvonne Koolmatrie grew up on the lower Murray River. She learned coil-stitched basketry techniques in 1982 at a workshop led by the senior Ngarrindjeri weaver Dorothy Kartinyeri. Koolmatrie collects sedge grasses from her favourite sites in the sand dunes of the Coorong area of South Australia. She uses the technique - tradtionally used for making functional objects - to create innovative shapes. Ngarrindjeri are the descendants of the many clan groups that lived throughout the lower Murray basin. They maintain a vital cultural identity. As in the past, life revolves around the river. It is a symbol of their cultural survival and potential for further cultural revival. The Murray-Darling Basin is Australia's largest river system, food bowl and inland water-transport corridor. Its waterways have been contested for generations - from colonial frontier wars to colour bars at local pools, and between farming and the environment itself. Threatened by salination and erosion, infested by carp and algae and depleted by dams and weirs, the rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin now flow wearily. Today the descendants of many alienated Indigenous clans, such as the Ngarrindjeri from the Murray riverland and Kamilaroi from the Moree watercourse country, maintain shared histories and knowledge about people, place and the life of the waterways.SignificanceThis fish sculpture is a significant example of coilwork, a traditional technique used in Aboriginal culture in the southern part of South Australia

Koolmatrie’s experimental and exploratory works in local grasses woke an interest in a vanishing cultural practice, as a teacher and practitioner she has played a pivotal role in the revitalisation of weaving. Her intuitive process allows the sculptural potential of functional objects to be realised in innovative interpretations of traditional forms. Her use of Sedge as her primary medium connects her to her land and to the places where the spiny sedge is gathered. For the artist the near loss of the Ngarrindjeri weaving tradition, became her catalyst to pass on her skills and create works so that her artworks will endure for future generations.