House & GardenTravel

A journey to the islands where some of the country's most exquisite indigenous homewares are created is truly transformative, writes Elizabeth Wilson.

It's 30 degrees with a dazzling blue sky and a whisper of breeze. I'm sitting cross-legged on a concrete slab outside the art centre at Galiwin'ku on Elcho Island, a remote community off the coast of north-east Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory.

The dry season has arrived and locals are enjoying cool mornings followed by diamond-clear days – and The Elcho Island Arts building, perched on a cliff-top overlooking a beach where kids are playing footy, is the perfect place to soak it all up.

I'm attempting to strip a pandanus leaf, a preliminary stage in the long process of preparing it for weaving. Sitting opposite me is Mavis Warrngilna Ganambarr, one of Australia's leading fibre artists, and I feel like I'm playing two-fingered piano in front of Beethoven.

"Gentle, like this," says Mavis, who starts swaying as she demonstrates a traditional dance that pays homage to the delicate hand movements needed to strip the leaves. It's a reminder of the generations of Elcho Island women who have sat under the shade of a tree pursuing this craft.

Elcho Island is a sliver of land 550 kilometres east of Darwin, and I've come here to see where some of the most exciting indigenous homewares are being created. The Yolgnu people of this region have been prolific weavers, carvers and painters for generations and, they are now reinterpreting these arts for a new audience. One of the most exciting projects for the weavers is their foray into making designer lightshades. Led by Mavis and her friend Judy Manany, in collaboration with design company Koskela, the women are creating sculptural shades from pandanus leaves woven over wire frames. The shades – each one with its own intricate design in earthy colours – are being snapped up by design-savvy decorators around the country.

During my visit, the weavers take me into the bush while they collect materials. 'Collect' makes it sound like a gentle exercise, which it isn't – the women disperse into the bush like fish darting through the shallows and it's sweaty work just keeping up with them. Using timber hooks, they race from one pandanus tree to the next, cutting the tallest leaf spears from each tree until they're carrying huge sacks bursting with leaves. Meanwhile another group digs for plant roots to make the dyes for colouring the pandanus.

Back at the art centre, the weavers quickly settle into their work, their hands gliding along the leaves, stripping and splitting them and placing them in piles. Two women are using sticks to mash plant roots: these will be boiled with the pandanus in big billies to create a palette of earthy colours – turmeric yellow, inky purple, rusty red and dusty green.

Sitting with these women, watching them work and listening to the flow of chatter pierced by hoots of laughter is eye-opening. Despite the levity, the work is physically hard and painstaking. Many hours go into producing a single woven object and the beauty of these products is that they're wholly local and handmade. "None of it comes from the factory. It all comes from the bush. It's all natural," says Mavis.

For Mavis and Judy, weaving is a celebration of their cultural identity, connecting them to the past and shaping their future. Both women have recently had their works exhibited in London and Sydney and they're pleased to be taking their medium in new directions. "I'm proud to be showing our culture to the world," says Judy Manany, "It's important to keep it moving, always moving."

Travelling to the Northern Territory is a journey into another world. Every time I visit, I feel like I've been overseas, the experience is so big. The landscapes are epic and the colours seem to take on different hues here, but it is the exposure to new cultural experiences that makes it so special. It's the chance to meet and chat with a Mavis or a Judy that bores into your heart and enriches you long after your journey has ended.

Visiting community art centres is a wonderful entry into this world. These are non-profit organisations, owned by indigenous artist members, designed to provide an avenue to purchase art while promoting cultural understanding and fair income returns for the artists. You can meet artists, watch them at work and hear their stories.

Interested travellers can take a day trip from Darwin to the Tiwi Islands (comprising Bathurst and Melville Islands) where there are four art centres to visit. At Tiwi Design Aboriginal Corporation centre on Bathurst Island, we arrive to find two men working like a human see-saw, screen-printing swathes of electric-pink fabric. It's easy to envisage this cloth, made in a tin shed, on an upholstered chair in a city far away.

At Jilamara Arts and Crafts on Melville Island, you can walk through the painting sheds and peep over the shoulders of artists at work. When we visit, local star Raelene Kerinauia, whose designs have been translated into upholstery fabrics by European design houses, is working on a painting of mesmerising stripes in red, yellow and white. These three colours constitute the art centre's signature, being derived from natural ochres found on the island: all of the local artists work with this same palette, with the addition of black. Another of Jilamara's famous painters, Timothy Cook, is here too, sitting quietly assessing one of his latest works – a large, bold painting of a kulama (yam) consisting of a circle and cross motif, that has just been selected to hang in this year's prestigious Telstra Art Awards.

At the other end of Melville Island, at Munupi Arts and Crafts, we're lucky to meet renowned Tiwi artist Jean Baptiste Apuatimi. She is putting the finishing touches to a large, complex work that is destined to sell for thousands to a city collector. Here, we also meet Justin Puruntatameri, a Tiwi elder who presides over local lore and ceremony. He sits painting a canvas surrounded by three generations of his family. "His painting is about looking for waterholes," says his daughter. "His paintings tell great stories of this place and it's important to pass them on."

Stories and story-telling are the lifeblood of these communities and they echo through my head as we make our way back to Darwin. The aerial view on the flight back from Elcho Island is like a colossal Aboriginal painting. The landscape is heavily veined, occasionally dotted with craters and waterholes and suddenly the Adelaide River swirls through it like a thick rainbow serpent. The country changes from scrub land to rocky outcrops and I see gargantuan crocodiles slithering across the earth. And I realise I'm now seeing the landscape – and everything – a bit differently.

How to organise an arts trip

Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia fly from most cities to Darwin, the starting point for all Top End art trails.

To Elcho Island

There are daily flights to Elcho on Air North. Elcho Island Arts can arrange accommodation, the permits that are necessary to visit the islands as well as weaving workshops with Mavis and Judy and cultural tours; (08) 8970 5088 or email manager@elchoarts.com.

To the Tiwi Islands

Tiwi Art Network has chartered flights to both islands and visits to art centres for groups of up to eight.

Aussie Adventures Bathurst Island tour includes an art centre visit.

The Arafura Pearl ferry travels between Darwin and Bathurst Island (Nguiu) daily from late March to mid December. The trip can include a tour of the island and art centre.

Tiwi Island Art Centres

Jilamara Arts and Craft, Milikapiti, Melville Island; (08) 8978 3901.

Munupi Arts and Craft, Pirlangimpi, Melville Island (08) 8978 397.

Tiwi Design Aboriginal Corporation, Bathurst Island, (08) 8978 3982.

Ngaruwanajirri Inc, Bathurst Island; (08) 8978 3724.

View the work of the art centres (except Ngaruwanajirri Inc) at www.tiwiart.com.

Koskela, Surry Hills, NSW; (02) 9280 0999.

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