May at Marnin Studio

May

This past month Marnin Studio ran a successful Bush Medicine workshop, split across 3 incredible days of learning and sharing with other women in our community.

 

DAY 1

The Marnin Studio artists went out on Bunuba Country, guided by Diane Chungal, Janet Herbert, Eva and Ivy Nargoodah to collect bush medicine plants for the workshop as well as for the studio’s bush dying projects.  It was a lovely day of women coming together to share knowledge and learning from older women, always listening to what they are saying. Artist and Arts Coordinator, Charline Davis, says… ‘Listening is key if you want to learn from your elders’.

Walking with the spinifex prickling at our ankles, we snapped branches of native plants, climbed limestone and broke off Barrala wax. When we couldn’t climb the limestone, we eagerly threw rocks up high to try breaking the resin. This made us laugh as we tried over and over again, some of us had better aim than others! Eventually, artist Sally Marvin was successful, she proudly showed us what she collected.

We collect only what we need, always leaving the plants with enough so that they can re grow. We used an axe and a saw to get bark from the Mandagalgal tree (Bush Apricot) and Thalngarri Malarri (Snappy Gum). 

Coming together at the end of the day, we combined our collection to form one big harvest. The strong Ngurnu Ngurnu smell filled the bus and made us all sleepy on our way home. When we returned to the studio, all the staff at Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre followed the strong smells through the garden and out to the studio to investigate. We laid out the plants on the table which drew everyone in to see what we had collected. Each plant holds its own story and unique scent which we will try to capture in the products on Day 2 of the workshop.
 

We thank Diane and Janet for having us on their Country and generously sharing their time and knowledge. We look forward to more collaborations in the future!

 

DAY 2

The Bush Medicine Working Group wanted to learn more about making wellness products from their plants, so we engaged with Robyn Wells, supported by the Kimberley Arts Network, to help us in delivering workshops in this area. Robyn came to Marnin Studio to teach us how to cold and hot-infuse (saponify) our plants into oils for use in Bush Medicine. Her approach was different to what some of our ladies already knew, so it was great to expand and learn other ways of creating these products. Each participant could then find their preferences for how to work with bush plants to create functional healing products.
 

Everyone took turns preparing the plants by tearing the leaves and breaking up the larger materials, measuring out the almond, olive and coconut oil to make the soap mixture. The ladies began to plan how they would work next time we created these products, sharing an interest in collected and processing the plant material and infusing them. 

It was our first time using lyre and caustic soda to make soap, it made us a little nervous, but we were well supported by Robyn, donning our safety gear to carefully mix the ingredients. This process allows the soap to set and harden for more commercial use. The process is meticulous, needing just the right amount of each element to ensure a perfect product at the end.

Across the day we made...

Bilindi Barrala Soap
Bilindi Lip balm
Ngurnu Ngurnu and Barrala Chest Rub
Walaba Deodorant
Foot scrub with a combination of left over plants

All the ladies got to take home each of the products they made which was special- how nice to follow the process all the way through; plucking the leaves, drying and tearing them, infusing them, setting them, then rubbing them into our skin at home. 

 

DAY 3

On the third day, Robyn showed some of the ladies how to market these products for sale and the legal requirements for creating bush products. We learnt the importance of the words, how we choose to describe what we do and how we want to tell the story to customers.

This helped the ladies feel inspired and motivated, Charline Davis said ‘I felt like… I can do this!’, ready to take the next step by planning recipes for future products.