Laura Badalune

2019, woven sculpture
pandanas spiralis and natural dyes
104 x 59 cm
Cat No. 488-19 

Kun-waral: Spirit Shadows
A collaboration between Bábbarra Women’s Centre and Maningrida Arts & Culture 

Laura Badalune is a Kuninjku fibre artist who learned to weave from her mother Frewa Bardaluna, a master fibre artist who had numerous exhibitions with leading Australian commercial galleries. Laura and her sister Alison Kuwanjguwanj continue her legacy, creating works that are bold in design, diverse in colour and tonal range and intricate in execution. Laura predominately uses gun-menama (pandanus spiralis) it make woven panels, dilly bags and 2D sculptures of animals and yawkyawks (female water spirits). To prepare the pandanus the inner leaves of the plant are collected using a hook. Each V-shaped leaf is first split in half along its spine. After removing the sharp spines, the two surfaces of the leaf are then split away from other. After this preparation, the pandanus is boiled in a billy can with plant materials to dye the fibre. Like her contemporaries, Laura only uses natural dyes and achieves enormous variation.

– MANINGRIDA ARTS & CULTURE