Limited Edition Rug #8/100

182 x 122cm

Hand dyed, chain stitched wool finished with a heavy cotton backing with a sleeve to hang if desired. This rug is born of a cross cultural collaboration between Aboriginal artists and traditional Kashmiri weavers through Better World Arts. Purchase of this rug directly benefits the artists and and their communities, control and ownership of intellectual property are also maintained.

Each rug is a completely handmade piece. This project brings many direct benefits to the artists’ and their families. Control and ownership of intellectual property are maintained by the artists and the artisans. The artists are the custodians of their stories and country, the Kashmiris are the cultural owners of this particular handicraft. It is not possible to find this handicraft outside of the Kashmir valley. Purchase of these rugs guarantees a direct return to the Aboriginal artist as well as supporting traditional work in the remote regions of the Kashmir valley. Text courtesy of Better World Arts

The design for this rug from an original painting by Valda Napangardi Granites. The MIna Mina Tjukurrpa tells the story of a group of ancestral ‘Karnta’ (women) who travelled from west to east.

During the Tjukurrpa (Creation time), ancestral women of the Napangardi and Napananganka clans gathered to collect ceremonial digging sticks, kuturu, that emerged from the ground. They then proceeded east, performing rituals of song and dance to a place known as Jankinyi. A large belt of eucalyptus trees now stand where these digging stick first appeared. The striking design of the white dotting depicts the encrustations of salt around the dry claypans of Mina Mina, etched with the tracks of the women.