Karrbarda (Long Yam) Design shops by Maath Maralngurra on linen

Hand screen printed 'Tuscany' 100% linen.
This is a high quality linen of 210 gsm - medium weight, good body and ideal for clothing and homewares.
The base cloth colour is called 'black'. The ink is Cobalt blue.

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All our fabrics are designed and hand-printed by our members (Aboriginal artists) in our workshop in Gunbalanya in West Arnhem Land, NT, Australia. The designers receive a royalty fee for every metre printed.

The designer:
Maath Maralngurra

The design:
The heart-shaped leaves of the edible karrbarda (Dioscorea transversa or long yam) are similar to mankinjdjek (Dioscorea bulbifera known as the “cheeky yam”). The cheeky yam is poisonous unless properly prepared. But the old people know how to tell the leaves apart. Women used to dig up long yams with kunbalkbu (digging sticks), but now they usually use kubba (“crow bars”, sticks fashioned from bits of metal). They go into the forest, to the places they know the yams will be, dig them up and cook them in the ashes of the fire. Kunwinjku people still eat them but the young girls today often don't know how to recognise the leaves of the shops long yam, only the old women.
Karrbarda is also the subject of a ceremonial song cycle that is still performed in Gunbalanya today.