Samuel Davis, Cape York Weekly
A grandmother’s tale has linked past-to-present and revived a traditional weaving practice lost decades ago in western Cape York.
Born in 1946, Zoe De Jersey is the first of three generations of artists in her family, passing on a relentless love for nature and boundless creativity.
Zoe’s mother was forcibly removed from Burketown in the Gulf of Carpentaria to the then Mapoon mission in the 1920s as part of what is now known as the Stolen Generation.
Life in the mission was difficult and practicing culture strictly forbidden.
“I remember mum saying ‘We didn’t have no running water or light switch to turn on’,” daughter Daphne said.
“They slept on a mattress filled with the husks of coconuts. It wouldn’t have been comfortable. It’s not that long ago that they lived like that.”
Despite the hardships, Zoe’s granddaughter, Luanna, recalled her grandmother passing on stories of life in western Cape York.
“She told us that in the mission days she used natural fibres to make hand lines (for fishing) because twine was too expensive. So she pulled apart some sisal plant and made herself a fishing line,” Luanna said.
Years later, Luanna came to the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair and saw a necklace made of beach debris.
The design reminded her of her grandmother’s story about the sisal plant.
“I think the necklace sold for $800 dollars,” she said.
“I thought to myself, ‘what would people pay for something made of natural fibres?’”
Soon after, Luanna started learning to make rope from beach hibiscus, sisal and banana trunks.
“We ended up getting a grant for a project making rope intertwined with emu feathers and dying it with mangrove bark, dog fruit roots and other natural dyes.”
Around that time other artists Luanna knew were in Brisbane completing a printmaking course.
“While they were there, they went to the museum and visited the Mapoon section,” she said.
“Because during the mission days the community was forbidden to practice any art, language or traditions, a lot of things were lost.
“So as the artists were going through the exhibit they saw a rope that looked almost exactly the same as what we are creating in community now.”
Her friends took a photo of the artefact and sent it to her.
“They were like, ‘Hey, look at this.’ It was a bit mind blowing to know that we were onto something that had been lost.
Inspired by their find, Luanna and Daphne are now sharing the practice with other artists in the region as well.
The duo’s weavings have culminated with works Woven in Time and They Journey being exhibited at the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair last week.
“It’s an opportunity to reteach that skill and share,” Luanna said. Since exhibiting at CIAF, Finnish, French and north American aesthetes have all fallen in love with works by We’Num artists.
“People come back every year,” Luanna said.
“They’ll say ‘we have three of your paintings’, or they’ll be automatically drawn to mum, or someone else. We’ve built a following which is gratifying.”
Daphne added: “It’s a way to keep culture and you just feel good doing it.”
This article appeared in Cape York Weekly, 12 July 2022.
