An artistic collaboration between Indigenous artists in Australia’s Northern Territory and a heritage print studio in India has received top honours at the 2025 Asia Pacific Arts Awards. The Bábbarra Women’s Centre in Maningrida and Bangalore’s Tharangini Studio have been jointly awarded the Innovation Award for their cross-cultural textile exhibition, Karri-djarrk-durrkmirri—a Yolŋu term meaning “we work together.”
The project began with a shared question: what happens when two women-led art collectives, separated by 7,000 kilometres and shaped by vastly different traditions, discover they share similar rhythms in how they make, remember and pass on stories?
On their first visit to India in 2022, Bábbarra artists Janet Marawarr, Deborah Wurrkidj and Centre Manager Jessica Stalenberg arrived at Tharangini Studio to the scent of natural dyes and the echo of hand-carved blocks meeting fabric. “The chatter of women, the earthy colours, the sound of printing—it all felt strangely familiar,” Stalenberg recalled. “We knew we’d found something deeply resonant.”
Their journey resulted in a ten-day woodblock workshop that not only brought together artists from Maningrida and Bangalore but also breathed new life into threatened works from Arnhem Land. Dozens of lino-print designs—some dating back over 30 years and deteriorating in the tropics—were carefully translated into durable teak woodblocks by Indian master carvers Shri C.H. Sreeram and Shri S.K. Rajak.
Many of these designs, created by now-deceased artists, were beginning to crumble in Maningrida’s humidity. The transformation into woodblocks preserves these visual stories for future generations. “These designs hold memory and knowledge,” Stalenberg said. “This process ensures they survive.”
For Bábbarra artist Janet Marawarr, the responsibility to carry these stories is deeply personal. “We never paint a story unless we have the right to,” she said. “We are djungkay—caretakers of our family’s designs. It is about listening, learning, and respecting what we’ve been given.”
The Bábbarra Women’s Centre has long operated from that foundation. First set up in 1987 as a women’s shelter under the leadership of Helen Williams and Helen Bond-Sharp, the centre has grown into a vibrant hub for textile arts. Today, it supports over 50 First Nations women artists from six language groups who continue to print stories of bush tucker, weaving, hunting and totems using screen and lino techniques. Their method, deeply rooted in rarrk (cross-hatching), is now being reinterpreted through block printing thanks to their Indian counterparts.
Tharangini Studio’s own history runs deep. Founded in 1977 by Lakshmi Srivathsa, and now helmed by her daughter Padmini Govind, it remains one of South India’s few surviving block-printing studios. Under Padmini’s guidance, Tharangini has earned international recognition for its eco-pigments, fair trade compliance and commitment to passing on traditional skills.
For Padmini, the connection with Bábbarra was immediate. “We’re both working in legacy crafts, in woman-led spaces, where the work is physical, spiritual and generational,” she said. “This project didn’t feel like a collaboration of strangers—it felt like kinship.”
Creative Australia’s Executive Director for Arts Investment, Alice Nash, acknowledged the project’s broader resonance. “These awards aren’t about prestige—they’re about practice. What we’re seeing here is a powerful example of how cultural partnerships can bridge borders in ways that are reciprocal and grounded.”
The exhibition Karri-djarrk-durrkmirri will open at Tactile Arts in Darwin on 12 June. It will feature printing workshops led by both Tharangini and Bábbarra artists, including live demonstrations from Padmini Govind herself. Later in the year, the collaboration will return full circle, with Tharangini facilitators travelling to Arnhem Land to run workshops on Country with the Bábbarra team.
Plans are already underway to further document and digitise archived designs, creating a living record for future artists. As Stalenberg puts it, “Karri-djarrk-durrkmirri isn’t just an exhibition. It’s a method. It’s how we build across time, culture and memory—and keep each other’s work alive.”
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NT's Bábbarra Women’s Centre & India’s Tharangini Studio win Asia Pacific Arts Award for textile collab. Preserved #Indigenous designs via woodblock printing. Exhibition opens 12 Jun in Darwin, blending Arnhem Land & Bangalore traditions. #TheIndianSun
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