Ghost net art: Work begins at Erub Erwer Meta

The weather on our third and last day on Darnley started beautifully, but once again the rain didn’t hold off for long. This unfortunately prevented much work from happening on the fish outside, so work continued inside on the circles for Garom.

Artist Jimmy Thaiday will be making the metal structure for the fish, which will be quite experimental as he has never worked with steel to make frames before. He was, however, confident that it will work. The logistics associated with transport also needed to be taken into account. Getting things off Darnley can be a challenge due to its remoteness. It was decided that the fish would be constructed in 3 or 4 sections, which would be put together once off the island.

The sun eventually came out, and Jimmy and Lynnette Griffiths drew the fish to scale on the pavers at the art centre. It will be quite large, measuring arounf 4 metres long. Some of the artists also placed the completed spots and some different coloured ghost net on the fish outline to show us how the final product may look. I can already picture it hanging in the Surviving Australia gallery at the museum.

All too quickly, our visit to Darnley was over. We had an amazing time. A huge thank you to everyone at the art centre for their hospitality and kindness. Debe Ari (good times).

The acquisition of the new ghost net works from Erub Erwer Meta was made possible by a grant from the Australian Museum Foundation and the bequest of Patricia M Porritt.