Maureen Ali is a leading fibre artist from the Burarra community of Maningrida in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. Her practice centres on large-scale woven works that preserve cultural traditions while presenting them as contemporary art. In Burarra language, mun-dirra refers to the fish fences once used to guide fish into traps (an-gujechiya).
While modern fishing methods have replaced their practical use, Ali’s woven mun-dirra honour ancestral ingenuity and embodies the cultural and ceremonial knowledge embedded in their making. In 2021 the NGV commissioned Ali alongside 12 master weavers from maningrida produced a 100-metre long Mun-dirra (2023) for the NGV trieniale.
Mun-dirra (Fish Fence), (343-25), 2025
PROVENANCE
Maningrida Arts and Culture, Northern Territory, Australia
$4,000 USD
Maureen Ali is a leading fibre artist from the Burarra community of Maningrida in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. Her practice centres on large-scale woven works that preserve cultural traditions while presenting them as contemporary art. In Burarra language, mun-dirra refers to the fish fences once used to guide fish into traps (an-gujechiya).
While modern fishing methods have replaced their practical use, Ali’s woven mun-dirra honour ancestral ingenuity and embodies the cultural and ceremonial knowledge embedded in their making. In 2021 the NGV commissioned Ali alongside 12 master weavers from maningrida produced a 100-metre long Mun-dirra (2023) for the NGV trieniale.
Other available artworks
