Cecille Baker, Burlupurr - large dillybag 2

Artist: Cecille Baker
Title: Burlupurr - large dillybag
Year: 2023
Materials: Pandanus (Pandanus Spiralis) and Kurrajong (Brachychiton Populneus) with
natural dyes
Size: 190mm x 160mm x 160mm

Language: Burarra (Martay)

Community: Maningrida

Burlupurr, or dilly bag, is a large woven collecting basket. These large bags are often made from the vine ‘Malasia scandens’, a strong pliable plant which grows along the floor and into the canopy of monsoon vine thickets. The bags are used to collect any kind of large numbers of heavy foods such as fish caught in conical fish traps or large collections of yams.

They can also be made from Pandanus spiralis, a plant which grows in many areas of Arnhem Land. These dilly bags are a tightly woven collecting basket, very finely made. These dilly bags are often used to collect sugarbag, the native honey 

As well as being of practical use, dilly bags are also of religious significance to Arnhem Land people. Dilly bags are said to be totemic objects and associated with particular sites in the landscape.

Maningrida Arts & Culture is a pre-eminent site of contemporary cultural expression and art-making, abundant with highly collectable art and emerging talent.

Through their homelands resource organisation, Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, artists turned an art trade that began just over 50 years ago into a multi-million dollar arts and cultural enterprise. Maningrida Arts & Culture supported hundreds of artists on their homelands, more than 20 artworkers, held 20 exhibitions annually, won prestigious awards, and enjoyed the international fame and success that the boom in the Aboriginal art market of the 1990s and 2000s enabled.

Acclaimed senior artists including John Mawurndjul, brothers Owen Yalandja and Crusoe Kurddal, Bob Burruwal, Lena Yarinkura and Laurie Marbaduk continue to expand their mediums and narratives. Artists such as Paul Nabulumo, Samson Bonson, Anniebelle Marrngamarrnga, Samuel Namundja, Kay Lindjuwanga and Fiona Jin-majinggal have emerged to become a formidable force in the national and international landscape. They sit alongside the leading proponents of a fibre sculpture movement. Frewa Bardaluna, Helen Stewart, Vera Cameron, Lorna Jin-gubarrangunyja, Freda Wayartja Ali, Bonnie Burarn.garra and Doreen Jinggarrabarra are a group of mostly female artists who reinterpret functional forms using natural fibres to create highly sought-after pieces across the fine art and interior design sectors.

We protect the place in history for those artists who have come before, among them: Yirawala, Wally Mardarrk, John Bulunbulun, Peter Marralwanga, England Banggala, Elizabeth Mipilangurr, Lena Djamarrayku, Mary Marabamba and Jack Wunuwun.