Lucy Wanapuyngu facts for kids

Lucy Malirrimurruwuy Armstrong Wanapuyngu, born on July 1, 1955, is a very talented Aboriginal Australian artist. She is known as a master of fibre art, which means she creates amazing things using natural plant materials. Lucy is an elder in the Gapuwiyak community. This means she is a respected leader who helps pass on important knowledge. She teaches younger generations how to make beautiful fibre artworks. Since 1995, she has worked with a researcher named Louise Hamby. Lucy's art has been shown in many art festivals, museums, and galleries around the world.

Lucy's Early Life and Family

Lucy Malirrimurruwuy Armstrong Wanapuyngu was born on July 1, 1955. Her birthplace was Mainoru Station, a large cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. When she was four years old, her family moved to the Roper River area. Lucy lived there for eight years. During this time, she became very sick and could not walk for a while. Kind elders from her community, including a woman named Nancy, took care of her. Eventually, a doctor from Adelaide helped her get better.

Later, many of her family members joined her at Roper River. These included Djardi, Florence Bertie, Vera, and Sam Ashley. Her family then moved to Galiwin'ku (Elcho Island). This is where Lucy met her future husband, Ian Wurruwul. They got married and had five children. After that, they settled in Gapuwiyak (Lake Evella). This is a Yolŋu community in east Arnhem Land. Lucy and Ian now have five grandchildren.

Lucy's art focuses on traditional and modern Yolŋu fibre art. She weaves mats, baskets, string bags, and sculptures. She often uses natural materials like pandanus leaves and jungle vines. Through her art, she has traveled to many countries. She leads workshops and exhibitions. She shares the cultural importance of Yolŋu weaving. She also helps keep women's fibre traditions alive.

Lucy's Artistic Journey

Lucy Wanapuyngu has been involved with fibre art since she was a child. Many traditions in fibre art are special to Yolngu culture. They often represent the importance of motherhood. Making baskets and other fibre art has always been important for Yolŋu women. Older women in the community teach these skills to the younger generation.

Passing on Knowledge

Families often gather together to share knowledge. They learn about finding and preparing plants for weaving. They also learn different craft skills. This way, the traditions are passed down and changed over time. Lucy has taught many family members, including her sisters and children. She showed them how to make special dyes. She also taught them complex fibre techniques.

Exhibitions and Workshops

In 2001, an exhibition called "Art on a String" opened in Sydney, Australia. This show highlighted Lucy Wanapuyngu's work with string jewellery. Necklaces are a very important part of Aboriginal Australian culture. In the past, both men and women wore them. Necklaces can be made from many natural things. These include shells, feathers, grasses, seeds, dried fruit, and even snake bones. These materials are found in Australia's deserts and coastal areas.

Lucy has also taken part in the Selling Yarns Conferences. She has led workshops at these events. The conferences happened in 2006, 2009, and 2013. They looked at the best ways to work in the Indigenous textile industry. They also focused on how important it is for artists to learn from each other. The conferences helped Indigenous communities across Australia connect. They also shared ideas with artists and researchers from other countries.

In 2010, Lucy's art was shown in an exhibition called "Women With Clever Hands Gapuwiyak Miyalkurruwurr Gong Djambatjmala". She helped Louise Hamby organize this show. It was the first time the women of Gapuwiyak showed their fibre art together. The artworks in the exhibition showed the beauty of their land and culture. Lucy and other Gapuwiyak women also led workshops. They taught others about their traditions.

Awards and International Recognition

In 2011, Lucy's artwork Healthy food from the past won an award. It received the Highly Commended Wandjuk Marika 3D Memorial Award. This was at the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA). The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory hosts these awards. The NATSIAA exhibition always shows new and exciting contemporary Indigenous Australian art. It highlights the creative ideas of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

In 2013, Lucy Wanapuyngu's work was shown in Japan. It was part of the Second International Triennale of Kogei in Kanazawa. This exhibition explored how "regional character" shows up in craft. It featured folk art, Indigenous art, and modern craft from different places. These included Australia, Santa Fe, Taiwan, and parts of Japan. The main goal was to compare art from different cultures around the world.

That same year, Lucy attended the Bark Workshop. This was part of the Harvesting Traditional Knowledge Project. It was held by the Association of Northern Kimberley and Arnhem Aboriginal Artists. They worked with the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre and the University of Melbourne. This project brings together Indigenous artists and people who care for art in museums. The workshop focused on how to collect, prepare, and preserve barks and pandanus. It also covered dyes, ochres, and other natural materials. Lucy and other senior weavers, like Ruth Nalmakarra from Milingimbi and Lorrie Murburrk from Maningrida, taught scholars about using pandanus in fibre work. They also taught how to make bush string.

In August 2013, Lucy Wanapuyngu and Dr. Hamby gave a talk. They discussed their 2010 exhibition, "Women With Clever Hands Gapuwiyak Miyalkurruwurr Gong Djambatjmala." They spoke at the University of Queensland. Lucy and Hamby explained that many items in the exhibition are not needed for daily life anymore. Things like plastic containers and handbags have replaced traditional items. But the older women still make these traditional crafts. Some fibre works are used for ceremonies. Some are made to teach younger people about old practices. Most of them are sold.

In 2019, Lucy traveled to the United States. Her daughter Anna Ramatha Malibirr and grandson Ryan went with her. They helped with an exhibition called "With Her Hands: Women’s Fiber Art from Gapuwiyak." This show was at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection in Virginia. During their three-week visit, they led workshops. They met with university students. They also shared techniques for dyeing pandanus and weaving coiled mats. Their visit was an important cultural exchange. It showed Lucy's dedication to teaching internationally. It also helped more people learn about Yolŋu fibre art.

Lucy's Artistry and Techniques

Lucy Malirrimurruwuy Wanapuyngu is known as a master of Yolŋu fibre arts. She is especially skilled at finding, preparing, dyeing, and weaving natural materials. Lucy mainly works with pandanus leaves. She strips them, softens them, and dyes them using natural colors from plants. Choosing the right pandanus and making bright natural dyes are very important skills. She has taught these skills to younger generations.

What Lucy Creates

Lucy weaves many different things. These include bathi (dilly bags), string bags, mats, necklaces, and other objects. Some are used for ceremonies, and some are for everyday use. These objects are very important in Yolŋu culture. They hold meanings connected to family groups, old stories, and traditional laws. Lucy uses coiling, twining, and plaiting techniques. She turns natural fibres into artworks that show her amazing skill and cultural knowledge. Her works include mats, baskets, dillybags, string bags, ceremonial clothes, and sculptures like fish traps. Each piece has a special cultural meaning. This meaning can change based on the materials used, the family group, and the spiritual importance of the object. Lucy's art also shows new ideas in color and patterns. She mixes traditional knowledge with modern influences. This helps keep Yolŋu fibre practices strong today.

Materials and Dyes

The materials Lucy uses are chosen carefully. They are prepared through hard work. Common fibres include pandanus plant leaves (Pandanus spiralis), jungle vine (Malaisia scandens), and the inner bark of kurrajong and stringybark eucalyptus trees. Collecting and preparing these fibres is physically demanding. Women traditionally do this work. This shows the deep knowledge about weaving that is passed down through generations of women. Women traditionally collect, strip, and dye these materials. They use natural colors from plants found on their family lands. The dyeing process needs a lot of knowledge about plants. Women skillfully use roots, flowers, leaves, wood ash, and salt. They extract and set a range of bright colors. Dyeing sessions can create several colors from the same dye bath. This depends on how long the material is soaked and what other things are added. For example, artist Laurie Marburduk uses Pogonolobus reticulatus root to make orange, yellow, and red fibres.

Besides fibre works, Lucy also makes detailed necklaces and ceremonial decorations. These are called girriŋgirriŋ or manimani in the Yolŋu language. Each necklace is carefully made with plant seeds, grass stems, and shells. They show the artist's ideas and wider community traditions. Lucy's beadwork continues the old practice of making ornaments in Arnhem Land. Wearable art shows who people are, their family connections, and their links to ancestors. Yolŋu women have made ornaments for hundreds of years. Today, some works use materials like crotalaria seeds. This is possible because metal needles were introduced. They are threaded onto fishing line to make them last longer. Some of Lucy's necklaces are long, continuous strands. This allows the wearer to loop them many times. This design mixes traditional materials with modern, flexible styles. Today, this practice is still very cultural. But it also responds to what people want to buy in the art market. Artists like Lucy mix tradition and new ideas to keep these old art forms alive.

Influence and Techniques

Lucy Wanapuyngu believes that fibre artworks hold power and knowledge. As explained in "Containers of Power: Women With Clever Hands," woven objects are not just useful. They are filled with meaning from ancestors. They are often made for special exchanges during ceremonies. This belief guides her art. She has also changed traditional methods to create new forms. An example is her string necklaces that use natural seeds and bush materials. Lucy’s necklaces, shown in exhibitions like "Art on a String" (2001), prove that old knowledge can find new life in changing art forms. Her new ideas show how dynamic and flexible Yolŋu fibre arts are.

Lucy’s work is like a "living archive," as described by Louise Hamby. Each woven piece stores and shares cultural memory through its feel and shape. Her technique keeps the careful hand-spun string-making processes. These are well-known in fibre art studies. But she also adds new colors and structures. These appeal to both Yolŋu and non-Indigenous people. Lucy's new necklace forms have changed the role of fibre art. It has moved from ceremonies and homes to modern exhibitions and international fame. Her approach shows a bigger trend in Arnhem Land communities. Women's fibre work is now seen as part of global Indigenous art discussions.

Lucy's dedication to fibre arts goes beyond her own work. She has taught younger weavers. She has led workshops around the world. She has also worked closely with researchers and curators. This helps document and promote Yolŋu women's fibre traditions. By doing this, she makes sure that the detailed practices of collecting, dyeing, weaving, and creating meaning stay important parts of modern Yolŋu life.

Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection

From July 2019 to April 2020, an exhibition was on display. It was called "With Her Hands: Women’s Fiber Art from Gapuwiyak: The Louise Hamby Gift." This exhibition was at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection in Charlottesville. The show featured 100 artworks recently given by Louise Hamby. These artworks explored ideas about tradition and new ideas, gender roles, changes between generations, and connections to place. Many of Lucy Wanapuyngu's works were in this collection. These included baskets, necklaces, and gay’wu, which are string bags. When the Hamby Collection was being put together, Lucy and her daughter, Anna, were asked for their advice by Hamby. In July 2019, Lucy, her daughter, and her grandson, Ryan, visited the Kluge-Ruhe in Charlottesville for three weeks. During their visit, they helped the museum team. They also led workshops for people visiting the exhibition.

Art Collections Featuring Lucy's Work

• Art Gallery of New South Wales
• The Louise Hamby Collection at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia

Selected Exhibitions

• Art on a String (2001)
• Women with Clever Hands: Gapuwiyak Miyalkurruwurr Djambatjmala (2010)
• Telstra National Aboriginal (2011)
• Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (2013)
• 2nd International Triennale of Craft in Kanazawa, Japan (2013)
• With Her Hands: Women's Fiber Art From Gapuwiyak (2019–2020)