CHILD’S HOOD, C1966, INDUS KOHISTAN, KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA, PAKISTAN, COTTON, SILK, GLASS, METAL, SHELL, PLASTIC, BRASS, TUSKS. NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA, CANBERRA. PURCHASED 1985. PHOTO: NGA – TAASA Review September 2021

groups often identify themselves by other names.

Probably made as part of a dowry, the baby carrier displays not only the quality of the maker’s work but, like the Dayak ba’, the wealth of her family.

Heavily appliquéd and embroidered with flowers and butterflies, it too would have been tied to a woman’s back with the child safely bundled within, revealing nothing but the infant’s head. ...