Fi nginita

Added by Durrmu Arts Centre

Description Three hundred kilometres south west of Darwin lies a small community called Peppimenarti; also known as Peppi.
Peppi is home to a community of artists and the Durrmu Arts Centre. The women of Peppi are renowned for their weaving skills. Their art is set apart from other regions by their use of materials (sand-palm and pandanus), the specific processes (all-natural dyes derived from berries, roots and ash) and ancient techniques (knotless netting and coil).
Weaving is an important cultural and social activity. Apart from strengthening personal and community relationships it also influences other art forms, such as painting. The two art forms are intertwined.
It was recently discovered by Ph.D Candidate Harriet Fesq, that due to the Missionary contact and influence in the Daly River area in the 1940’s, the local weaving technique of 'twining with bush vine' had been lost to this community of Peppimenarti.
With the support of the Durrmu Arts Centre, a group of Peppimenarti women artists, including Regina Wilson, traveled the 900KM to Yilan to attend a weaving workshop held by artist and friend Lily Roy. Lily Roy teaches the women this particular skill of weaving so that it can be taken back to artists and weavers in Peppimenarti.
The documentary details the story of how this lost art and important part of the Ngan’gikurrungurr culture was retrieved and returned.
This documentary also shows that the ancient wisdom of weaving is as much about the women connecting with each other, as it is about the beauty and practicality of the woven object.