Dry Season
Monday – Friday: 9am – 4:30pm
Saturday: 9am – 2:30pm
Sunday: 9am – 2:30pm
Wet Season
Monday – Friday: 9:30am – 3:00pm
Saturday: 9:30am – 2:00pm
Sunday: Closed
Artist Profile: Johnson Namundja
The story behind the artwork: Fish Trap,
Traditional Old Time Fish Trap (Mandjabu). In the Dreamtime Wak, the Ancestral Crow Man, taught Aborigines how to build barriers across a stream, using saplings, mud and grass, leaving a gap in the middle from which a conical basket floated, secured on each side by bush rope tied to a sapling. The Mandjabu is only used at certain times of the year – towards the end of the wet season, when the fish are fat, for fat is much prized among Aborigines. At the end of each wet season (April/May) the trap is set up at the same site, across a small shallow tidal creeks.
First a barrier of saplings, grass, mud and paperbark is erected across the creek, with a small opening left in the middle. Barramundi, catfish and saratoga fish, which are the most plentiful species in Arnhem Land, swim upstream through this gap. Then when the tide turns, the conical basket, with the removable, cone-shaped mouthpiece inserted and tied onto the basket, is lashed to a sapling on each side of the gap, so that it floats with the tide running out. Those men designated to look after the trap wait patiently for the fish to swim into the basket.
C/No: 12763 57cm x 76 cm Ochres on Arches Paper
AUD $ 2,200.00
1 in stock
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Acrylic paintings are rolled up and sent in a PVC tube. The artwork is sent by Fedex Road Express, door-to-door delivery, with a signature on delivery and online tracking. The estimated delivery time for domestic is 4-5 days and for international shipping is 10 working days.
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Dry Season
Monday – Friday: 9am – 4:30pm
Saturday: 9am – 2:30pm
Sunday: 9am – 2:30pm
Wet Season
Monday – Friday: 9:30am – 3:00pm
Saturday: 9:30am – 2:00pm
Sunday: Closed