Kathleen Korda

Kathleen Korda was born and educated at the Daly River Mission. In the 1960s, when she was a teenager, she moved out to Peppimenarti, where her mother and grandmother taught her to weave baskets, string bags and ﬁsh nets. Kathleen lives at Peppimenarti with her five daughters and twelve grandchildren. Kathleen is establishing herself as a leading weaver at Durrmu Arts, receiving a Highly Commended award in the Togart Art Awards in 2013.
Kathleen passed away in 2025.

Black and white portrait of an Indigenous woman with a white background.

Kathleen Korda. Photo: Durrmu Arts.

Interior with round ottoman and sheer drapery curtain with patterned fabrics featuring First Nations designs with colours of pink and plum, with ottoman reflected in mirror and a pale peach coloured wall

Durrmu (KK) in ‘Berry’ (Commerical Sheer Drapery) and ‘Terra’, from the Durrmu Collection. Photo: Martina Gemmola.

Rock in Australian bush painted with colourful First Nations designs surrounded by grasses and blue sky

Rock painting at Peppimenarti, which lies south-west of Darwin. Photo: Timothy Hillier.

Kathleen’s design for our Durrmu Collection is called Durrmu (KK). It represents traditional body painting designs applied to male and female faces and torsos for ceremonial dance. The dots are referred to as durrmu - which also means painting.

Interior with assortment of furniture pieces including chair, screen, round ottoman with patterned fabrics featuring First Nations designs, colours of pink, plum, brown, black, orange against pale peach coloured wall

[L-R] Durrmu (LB) in ‘Geo’, Durrmu (KK) in ‘Obsidian’ and Syaw (Fish Net) in ‘Woollybutt’, from the Durrmu Collection. Photo: Martina Gemmola.

Fabric laid out with soft folds printed with First Nations design in colours of blue, white, plum

Durrmu (KK) in ‘Pippi’ printed on our Indoor Weave fabric.

Kathleen Korda

Osmond Kantilla

Jean Ngwarraye Long