The dari is a ceremonial headdress integral to the Torres Strait people’s performance of the kab kar (sacred dance). These sacred performances of stories, music, dance and song predate colonisation. Jimmy Kenny Thaiday created this dari from repurposed ‘ghost’ nets, which are discarded by commercial fishing boats and drift onto the beaches of Erub.

The white fibres are woven to look the same as sir (sea heron) feathers, which represent peace. In turn, the cut pattern of these sir feathers mimics fish tails. The central raba raba (black feather) is like the long tail feather from the waumer (frigate bird) with the trim of white feathers at the top representing the sik (white caps of the sea). The black and white feather in the middle of the dari is styled on the deumer (Torres Strait pigeon), while the zig zag work represents the sai (fish traps) and the inner curves the irau (eyebrows).

About the Artist

Jimmy Kenny Thaiday is a Peiduram man from Erub (Darnley Island) in the Torres Strait. His practice includes weaving and ceramics drawn heavily from his cultural heritage, stories of warfare and European colonisation of the Torres Strait Islands. The artist is part of the Ghost Net Project, a collective of Indigenous communities responding to the environmental impact of these nets on marine life. Since 2004, the project has removed and documented over 13,000 ghost nets across the northern coastlines of Australia. In 2012, Thaiday attended Ghost Nets Project workshop, led by textile artist Nalda Searles, at Keriri Arts and Craft Group.

The artist first exhibited with Ella-Rose Savage at Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne (2015) and was included in the ‘Past Legacy - Present Tense’ at National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2017). He has won several awards including Best 3D Work, Gab Titui Indigenous Art Award (2015) and shortlisted in the Telstra National Aboriginal Art and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (2014).