More from the Top End

Well, have I been having fun. Not only did we chance by a student needing help with her screen printing, on the way to one of our conference sessions, which my conference buddy and I were happy to oblige, but I also spent time at a stall on Thursday night at the markets, with fabrics printed by women at BIMA, a print workshop on the Tiwi Island of Bathurst. The Tiwi Islands are just North West of the centre tippy top of Australia, and this print workshop is kinda famous, and has been running since 1969. Some of the people working there were there at its inception and have been working there ever since. They do designs using traditional symbols and representations, but are constantly doing new designs and mixes of colour. Their work is really striking and warm. I bought a giant table cloth which I’m going to use as a bedspread (I might ask my mum to turn it into a quilt cover for me). AND as if that wasn’t enough, there was another kind of modern/feral/absurdist fabric designer at the markets, who does quirky images of animals and people, who makes skirts and dresses and stuff, and has said she’ll send me fabric by the metre if I want to order stuff. Yah.