22. Manyawok (Cheeky Yam, Dioscorea bulbifera)
I painted a group of papers, all the small paintings of bush tucker. It’s from my memory, all this manme (bush foods). Sometimes balanda (non-indigenous people) want that food from Aboriginal people, to understand that story. I know how to collect that bush tucker. I got my knowledge from my grandmother. She was carrying me when I was a young girl. And my grandfather too. When I was little girl, they told us to eat this one, and that one, so it was in our mind, in our memory. My grandmother took us out camping, and we were digging yam, and they were teaching us. All that is my story.
I made this one first. I was drawing this cheeky yam. We call in our kunwok language ‘manyawok’. It’s like bush potato, manme (food). We boil it, and cut it up in slices, like chips. Then we take it to the river, put it in the dillybag, and leave it in the river water. All the spiciness (toxins) then get out of it. One night we leave it in the river, then we cook it up and eat with family.
- Ink on Arches Paper
- Dimensions: 21 x 30cm (unframed), 36 x 27.5cm (framed)
- Cat No. 1805-24
Deborah Wurrkidj was born in 1971 at Maningrida in north-central Arnhem Land. Her language is Kuninjku and her moiety is Duwa. Deborah is well known for her fibre weaving, bark painting, woodcarving and printmaking. Deborah is a versatile artist who has readily adapted to new art forms while retaining strong clan traditions. Her work is tactile and intricate and illustrates the artistic innovation that has occurred in Maningrida over the last 30 years. Alongside her highly regarded fine art practice Deborah, with her mother, Helen Lanyinwanga, and sister Jennifer Wurrkidj has been working at Bábbarra Designs since 1991. She is a leading textile artist and an integral member of Bábbarra Women’s Centre. Deborah has exhibited nationally including the 19th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award in 2020 and is represented in a number of state and private collections. In 2019 she was one of five artists who travelled with the Bàbbarra Women’s Centre to Paris, France for the opening of Jarracharra: Dry Season Wind. In 2023 she travelled to India as the internationally touring Jarracharra exhibition was opening. During this trip Deborah met with local artisans and experimented with translating her designs into traditional Indian woodblock printing.
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.
We pack all artworks securely to protect during shipping. Items valued over $100 are insured for damage during transit. Artworks less then one metre are generally sent insured via Australia Post, unless they are particularly fragile. Artworks longer than one metre are sent via Pack n Send.