Description
Yolŋu classifications of local shellfish types throw into stark relief the differences between indigenous knowledge systems and those of the western sciences. Systems of knowledge are embedded in distinctive worldviews that are often incommensurable with others, but within themselves, they are wholly coherent. Knowledge and practices maintained by peoples with extended histories of intimate coexistence with their environments typically emphasize symbiotic and spiritual connectedness to place. Such thinking tends to link people, animals, plants and other elements of the cosmos through social relations and engender systems that look and feel very different from the formal conventions of modern western style sciences. What may appear ambiguous from a purely scientific perspective may reveal a magnificent pattern of intimate and holistic connection where colour, shared habitat or mythological origin inform the logic of classification.
Anthropologist Tommaso Piva. D.p.s –
Anthropologist, Tommaso Piva. D.p.s, declares; ‘Questo lavoro è una testimonianza della cura e dell’impegno reciproco,un’ espressione di autentico amore, speranza e sentimento verso la propria terra.’(Piva 2016)
‘This work is testament to truth, trust and care in engagement, a collaboration of profound love, hope and feeling in country.’
David Hancock Photographer –
For Yolŋu people, language and country are connected parts of a sacred inheritance, the wellspring of knowledge, wisdom and a truly priceless possession. This wisdom is reflected here in this collection in the Yolŋu names, poetry and ecological associations of maypal.”
Will Stubbs –
Will Stubbs of Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Arts in Yirrkala says Maypal, Mayali’ ga Wäŋa : Shellfish Meaning and Place. A Yolŋu Bilingual Identification Guide to Shellfish of North East Arnhem Land;
“It has the weight and feel of a prayer book. And in a way it is -It is a reverence for these sacred foodstuffs that define and sustain the magical coast that we live on. But instead of that handful of species that we sleepwalkers can name there are over two hundred pages of individual edible Maypal with multiple Yolŋu names, their Latin tag and where available an English Common name.
It is a prayer that the existence of this knowledge and these names be infinite. It is a ritual incantation of this knowledge and these names that they may live on in the hearts and minds of the people who live with them for eternity.”