Zelda Wurigir

Born in 1963, Zelda Wurigir grew up on her mother’s homeland of Yilan. Living in the bush she learnt the bush ways from her old people including collecting, stripping, dyeing and weaving bush fibres. At the age of nine Wurigir began to make her own weavings. Today she enjoys sharing her skills with one of Milingimbi Art and Culture’s youngest artists, her granddaughter Gail Bonson.

Wurigir’s weavings are skilfully crafted and can be distinguished by a bold and spontaneous aesthetic that is often associated with the clans whose homelands lie to the east of Yurrwi (Milingimbi).

As a young woman Wurigir moved to Bodiya homeland on the island of Yurrwi when she married her husband. Zelda attends the art centre daily and also works as an educator with the Crocodile Islands Rangers Youth Engagement Program.