Annabell Amagula

Annabell Amagula is an important senior artist from Angurugu Community on Groote Eylandt. Highly skilled in traditional fibre crafts, she is a master string maker and weaver who teaches younger generations to keep cultural knowledge strong.

Her teaching extends to national and international audiences, when she facilitates ghost net weaving workshops in many different places, including at festivals, schools and universities.

In 2019 Annabell participated in an artist in residence program with Asialink in Indonesia where she delivered workshops and developed new works to communicate and creatively address environmental issues affecting sea life and coastal communities in Australia and Indonesia.

Annabell has been designing and creating works for the annual Anindilyakwa Arts Fashion Collection. She incorporates traditional bush dyes and weaving with contemporary materials including ghost nets and recycled materials as well as extending her practice to include digital printed textiles.

I grew up in Angurugu, I grew up with my father and mother, when I was 6 year old I would sit and watch my grandmother make bush bags from pandanus. When I was 10 I started making baskets. When I was 12 my great great grandmother would take us out to collect the colours for pandanus, that’s how I learned, from my elders. I used to watch my father paint and I learned to paint copying my father’. When we at the art fair (DAAF) and I see everyone going crazy for our t-shirts and scarf, I feel happy and proud. It comes from our country, I like wearing it and it’s good they like wearing it too.