Gong-Wapitja: Women and art from Yirrkala

Summary

Contemporary women artists of the Yirrkala community in Northeast Arnhem Land create a wide variety of art and craft, from feathered string for ceremonies to large-scale murals for public buildings and their works are represented in many public and private collections.

Gong-Wapitja, with its informative Introduction, is a beautifully written and illustration survey of the art forms and choice of imagery of the female artists.

The gon-wapitja or digging stick of the title represents the role of women and their knowledge of and relationship to the land. It also stands for the sacred digging sticks carried by the Djan'kawu Sisters, the ancestral creators who used them to give life to all things in the world.