This 1960s inspired shift dress is an easy to wear, comfortable every day dress. Featuring design by artist Alison Napurrula Multa:

This design shows ‘Kungkaku Puturru’ – the hairstring women make from their own hair for ceremony. In the older days, women used to cut their own hair and create this string by spinning the hair on their thighs. The hairstring was used for dancing, ceremony and domestic purposes. Kungkaku puturru is connected to the Tjukurrpa place Kungkayunti (Brown’s Bore). Kungkayunti is the place where the ancestral women, who travelled from Ntaria (Hermannsburg) to the west of Kintore, stopped and danced. Kungkayunti means women dancing.

This flattering A-line shape finishes just above the knee and features mid length sleeves and two scoop side pockets. Constructed with 100% jersey cotton.

About the Makers:

Publisher Textiles & Papers is one of Australia’s leading print houses. Focused on producing original patterns through traditional hand-screen printing methods we create bold and colourful textiles, hand printed wallpaper, clothing and fabric.

Hand printed in our studio in Leichhardt.

Treat this handmade garment with love and it will love you back! Cold gentle machine wash, drip dry in shade, warm iron. Avoid the tumble dryer and dry cleaner.

Being handmade there may be some print variations, making each garment unique.

Hand printed and made in Sydney.

Alison Napurrula Multa
Alison was born in Alice Springs in Central Australia and moved with her mother back to her country near Haasts Bluff. She has four sisters and a brother. She finished high school in Alice Springs and was working for many years at the school in Ikuntji. Alison was married to Gordon Butcher (dec) who was a founding member of the Warumpi Band which burst onto the Australian rock scene in the early 1980s and soon gained national and international recognition, touring with the likes of Midnight Oil. They had three children together, two of whom are now artists, Serianne Butcher and Erin Butcher.

Alison’s ngurra (country) is 120 km west of Ikuntji called Kungkayunti (Brown’s Bore). The country is full of sandhills and majestic desert oaks through which the wild camels roam. Her artworks depict the Tjukurrpa stories connected to her country: Pintirri Mungangka and Hairstring. Her sisters, Patricia, Lisa and Benita, are artists too and all depict different aspects of their ngurra. 

Alison has travelled to Singapore and Korea with her art. She has visited museums across Australia and presented at conferences about the continuing traditions of art-making in Ikuntji. Her t-shirt and fabric designs tell of different aspects of her art-making: the influences of the everyday and of her Tjukurrpa. In 2022, Alison created her first fabric-by-the-metre design.

Ikuntji Artists

Ikuntji Artists is a member-based, not for profit, Aboriginal art centre. It is situated in the community of Haasts Bluff (Ikuntji), and has a board of seven Indigenous directors all of whom live and work locally. Haasts Bluff has a population of around 150 people. 

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