Rug, Wall Hanging, S, Wool, Aboriginal, Australia, Fair Trade, Anmanari Brown, hotsell Seven Sisters, Papulankutja, Ngaanyatjara, Living Room, Home

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These beautiful woollen embroideries work equally well as floor rugs and wall hangings.
Chain-stitched kilims are made using a traditional rug making technique (gabba) from Kashmir. As people sat on the floor they were both homewares and decoration.
The designs are by Australian Aboriginal artists, they are then chain-stitched in wool onto a canvas backing each cushion cover is an interpretation of an original artwork, usually a painting.
Front of each rug is wool embroidered onto a cotton canvas and back is cotton canvas with a non-slip surface.
Each rug has a flap on one of the shorter sides for hanging portrait style, simply slide a piece of dowel or curtain rod in and hang. As the artworks are painting on the ground most of the images do not have a set orientation so can also be hung landscape if preferred.
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These are surprisingly hard-wearing and I use them as both rugs and as and beautifully textured affordable works of art.
Limited Edition: Each rug is individually numbered and shipped with an individual document of Authenticity that gives provenance. No more than 100 rugs will ever be made in this design and size.
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Artist: Anmanari Brown of Papulankutja Artists, Blackstone WA
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SIZE:
Rectangular: 61 cm (24 inches) x 91 cm (36 inches)
Composition: wool (front) and cotton (back)
Color: the color is accurate but more nuanced in real life
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CARE INSTRUCTIONS:
Do not put place/use in direct sunlight or colors may fade. To clean - careful hand-wash in warm water using a wool detergent. Can be ironed on a wool setting.
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About the design: Kungkarrakalpa Tjukurpa (Seven Sisters Dreaming)
This is a popular dreaming story of a group of sisters being chased through the desert by one man. There are numerous scenarios as the women travel around, chased by Wati Nyiru. Land forms were created as they all travelled though the countryside Eventually they rose up into the sky and form the Pleiades, a cluster of stars seen in the southern skies. There are many variations of this story, each language group has it's own chapters that relate to the landscape in their own country.

About the artist:
Brown was born roughly some time during the 1930s. She was born at Purpurna, a waterhole that is sacred to the Pitjantjatjara. She grew up living a traditional, nomadic way of life in the bush with her family, before any contact with Euro-Australian society. In the 1950s, her family was moved out of the bush to live at Warburton, with many other Aboriginal families. Warburton was a Christian mission at the time, and Brown was taught at school here by missionaries. When she was older, Brown moved to Irrunytju and married Nyakul Dawson.

Brown began work as an artist in 2000. The women of Irrunytju had opened an art centre as a community-owned economic program. Anmanari and other senior women in the community began painting for Irrunytju Arts on linen canvases. Their first exhibition was held in 2001, in Perth. The art mixed modern painting techniques with ancient designs and cultural law.

From the beginning of her career, Brown often painted with her friend Tjayanka Woods. When Brown's husband died in 2007, she and Woods left Irrunytju and went to live at Papulankutja, on Ngaanyatjarra lands. Here, they paint for Papulankutja Artists. In April 2010, the two women held their first solo exhibition together at the Vivien Anderson Gallery in Melbourne.

Brown mostly paints the Kungkarrakalpa Tjukurpa (Seven Sisters Dreaming). Her connection to this Dreaming comes from her mother, whose homeland is Kuru Ala, a sacred place for women.[9] The paintings in her solo show depicted stories from this Dreaming.

Brown's paintings are not figurative. She does not explicitly depict figures or features of the landscape, but she does use iconographic symbols to represent them. She uses patterned lines to represent tracks in a journey, or seven small shapes or lines to represent the sisters. She also sometimes uses colour symbolically. While Brown mainly paints directly on canvas, several of her works are made from screen-printing methods.
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About the BWA chainstitch kilim products
These beautiful, unique textiles are a cross-cultural collaboration combining Aboriginal designs and traditional Kashmiri rug-making techniques. Chain stitched, using hand dyed wool, each is a completely handmade piece. A more empowering way to work, this brings many direct benefits to the artists' and their community. Control and ownership of intellectual property are also maintained. Purchase of these products guarantees a direct return to the Aboriginal artist and their community.
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About my connection with Better World Arts
I met founder of BWA in 2004 whilst doing a consultancy in the APY Lands preparing marketing plans for five art centres for Ananguku Arts. I was gobsmacked by this terrific fair trade project that Kaltjiti Arts was then doing with Caroline Wilson. As a textile nut, the artisan skills and use of wool appealed to me and the rendering of Indigenous designs in rugs and cushion covers is so lovely. I later encouraged them to work with other art centres and introduced them to Warlukurlangu Artists and Injalak Arts. Flick (founder of Flying Fox Fabrics)
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BWA
Better World Arts has been operating for over two decades. Our role models were Oxfam, Fred Hollows (the Fred Hollows Foundation) and Anita Roddick (The Body Shop).
We work with traditional artisans from remote regions in Kashmir, Peru, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Nepal (Tibetan refugees). More recently we have started working with China, making bone china and silk hotsell ties.
We work with Australian Aboriginal artists from remote communities across Australia, from Arnhem Land to Central and the Western Desert regions, from rural locations and from cities.