Mol miṉḏirr (black conical basket)

The Milingimbi Art and Culture certificate for this work states: Margaret Rarru Garrawurra is renowned for her mol miṉḏirr (black conical baskets). Over a lifetime of being an artist and weaver Rarru has refined natural dying processes, most notably that of mol'muŋu (black dye). The depth of colour achieved by Rarru reveals rich copper tones and blue/black hues.
Black weaving has become synonymous with Milingimbi. Dhumumu ga guḻtjiguḻtji (plants used to make black and brown colour) grow in abundance amongst the dry eucalyptus forest on the island whilst plants needed to make yellow, orange, red and purple grow only in small quantities or not at all. With this in mind, it is no surprise that Rarru has focused her attention to refine the subtleties of mol'muŋu. This piece is a variation of Rarru's more common mol miṉḏirr. This can be observed in her use of raw kurrajong string and the starkly contrasting black pandanus used at the top and base of the work.