The organisation that supports Aboriginal weaving artists working in the remote Central Australian desert is facing a fuel bill of A$55,000 (US$36,890).
The Tjanpi Desert Weavers represents more than 400 Anangu and Yarnangu women artists on the NPY (Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) Lands.
For the 2022-23 financial year the organisation’s fuel budget is expected to hit $55,000 - dwarfing its budget for art supplies, and $15,000 higher than the previous year.
The extra cost eats into the organisation’s multi-year funding and the social enterprise will have to meet the shortfall, according to manager Michelle Young.
Tjanpi means wild harvested grass, and the woven sculptures made from the grasses range from small brightly coloured vessels to large-scale corporate commissions, with every major institutional gallery in Australia collecting their work.
The fuel costs are so big because the NPY Lands cross the borders of the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia, covering an area about the size of Germany, she explains.
Field officers drive out to 26 remote communities on the NPY Lands to deliver supplies to the artists and collect finished sculptures for sale.
The distances are massive: from the organisation’s head office in Alice Springs, the closest part of the NPY Lands is a three-hour drive away, while the organisation’s field office would take nine hours to get to.
The weavers use Tjanpi grass as well as vines, wool and raffia, a material they are especially fond of, according to Young.
“The women talk about how silky and soft it is, they are weaving with it all day,” she said.
The shelves in her office are lined with small woven sculptures of birds, dogs, lizards, camels and echidnas, all stock to be sold online.
Vehicles with covered trailers are parked outside the office and gallery, and these can be stacked with deliveries of materials such as raffia, scissors and needles.
When the field officers visit remote communities these are sold to the weavers at cost, while finished artworks can be also be sold to Tjanpi and the money used to purchase items such as blankets, crowbars and shovels.
“The artists can buy something and see the money has value in supplying the things they need,” Young told AAP.
Earning money through artwork is a good thing, said one of the artists from Warakurna in Western Australia.
“I can buy food or sometimes help out other ladies who need money for food, we all look after each other,” Erica Ikungka Shorty said in a statement.
The practice of collecting wild grasses for weavings also facilitates other cultural practices, including hunting, visiting significant sites, performing cultural song and dance, and teaching children about country.
Tjanpi grew from a series of basket weaving workshops held in 1995 facilitated by NPY Women’s Council.
Almost thirty years later, the weavings have been shown worldwide: earlier in April the Tjanpi Desert Weavers opened an exhibition in Paris.
It has also moved into making films using animated grass figures, with award-winning films at the 2022 Sydney Film Festival.
