‘The Tjanpi Desert Weavers show us that traditional craft is art’
By Tiriki Onus 2014
Harvard referencing:
Tiriki Onus 2014, ‘The Tjanpi Desert Weavers show us that traditional craft is art’, Find an Expert : The University of Melbourne, viewed April 2025, <https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/news/3605-the-tjanpi-desert-weavers-show-us-that-traditional-craft-is-art>.
Tjanpi Desert Weavers, Tjanpi (Native Desert Grass), n.d
Jo Foster, Artists Dianne Ungukalpi Golding, Eunice Yunurupa Porter, Nancy Jackson, Winnie Woods and Melva Davies at Tjanpi Desert Weavers workshop, Warakurna, April 2011
What next?
“once you take the function away from the form, we are able to view it as art” (Onus, T 2014)
It is interesting how today people often overlook handmade goods when viewing them under the lens of functionality, however when labelled simply as art, a greater appreciation seems to set in? Through my body of work, I hope to bring up that discussion. Why isn’t we can’t see those things as one. And value them as such.
This notion of perception is something I wish to investigate further as I think it applies to many other ‘heritage’ art-forms.
From this research I want to look at my photographs and sequence them with these themes in mind. How can I spin the narrative to suggest a welding of function, form and aesthetics, and what public perception do I wish to gain from the body of work as a collection?
An exploration or even consideration further into the materiality of heritage trades would be valuable too. Much like the image above where the women stands proud with her materials. There is so much power in that.
What is it?
Tiriki Onus’s research paper : ‘The Tjanpi Desert Weavers show us that traditional craft is art’ investigates the balance between function and aesthetics when it comes to art and craft forms. Specifically, through the lens of some aboriginal Australian communities and their approach to both preserving traditional techniques and adapting to contemporary needs and the art scene as it stands.
Why is it relevant?
“For over a thousand generations Aboriginal people made no distinction between art and craft. Art was, and still is, a way of life and as much about function as it is about beauty and form. Artistic forms continue to be used to give Aboriginal people skills, knowledge and practical tools to survive, thrive and manage the continent of Australia.” (Onus, T 2014)
The article discusses the way in which within Australia’s indigenous communities there has been little distinction between art and craft, Onus discusses the way in which art has long remained not just decorative, but a way of life that is “as much about function as it is about beauty and form”. (Onus, T 2014)
He recognises the practical gains for traditional artistic practices, for both survival and wellbeing as a whole.
I think this is reflected within many cultures across the globe, where somewhere along the way art and craft became less functional and more decorative. Where tools because objects. An interesting point of discussion.
Onus contextualises this discussion with the example of the Tjanpi Desert Weavers, a group of over 300 aboriginal women in Australia’s central and western desert regions who come together to make art. Their use of the fruits of their labour both within their daily lives and as items of intentional beauty challenges the idea of art and craft being separate notions. (Onus, T 2014).
Now historically Indigenous-Australian-made functional products have been intrinsically tied to the decorative side of artmaking, but the introduction of the 1960 aboriginal art market is a supposable catalyst for the recognition and appreciation of Aboriginal work in Australia’s boarder contemporary industry. (Onus, T 2014)
Whats interesting about the Tjanpi Desert Weavers, ad Onus discusses, is their practices evolution to incorporate modern materials into their works, using intergenerational techniques, and new materials like chicken wire to “fuse [the mediums and their practice] with their lived experiences of the 21st century” (Onus, T 2014)
Their innovation gives them back control over the way in which the contemporary art scene perceives them too. And perception has a massive effect over industry outcomes and possibilities.
Tjanpi Desert Weavers, Trudy Nyurpaya Holland Smythe, n.d