Gelam Nguzu Kazi
Print
2001 (made)
2001 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
During the late 19th century the people of the Torres Strait Islands, north of Australia, were converted to Christianity and their characteristic material culture gradually began to disappear. However, in the 1990s a group of young artists who had studied in mainland Australia began making linocuts based on traditional visual patterns and oral narratives.
Many of their works comment on contemporary concerns and events alongside traditional myths, which are often very funny, revealing the less appealing sides of human behaviour. Each island has its own stories and creation myths, which the artists narrate through groups of figures, animals and objects. These images are set against intense linear patterns known as a minarals, each artist having developed their own unique minaral.
In this story a young man deserts his mother for having deceived him. Her figure, weeping by the shore, turns into a rock, which is said to be seen on Mua Island today.
Many of their works comment on contemporary concerns and events alongside traditional myths, which are often very funny, revealing the less appealing sides of human behaviour. Each island has its own stories and creation myths, which the artists narrate through groups of figures, animals and objects. These images are set against intense linear patterns known as a minarals, each artist having developed their own unique minaral.
In this story a young man deserts his mother for having deceived him. Her figure, weeping by the shore, turns into a rock, which is said to be seen on Mua Island today.
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Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Titles |
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| Materials and techniques | Linocut on paper |
| Brief description | 'Gelam Nguzu Kazi' [Dugong My Son], lino-cut (kaidaral), David Bosun; Torres Straits Islands, 2001 |
| Physical description | Black and white image with some colouring predominantly in greens and blues. Image a rough square containing at centre a large pod with two crescent shaped sheaths, inset with stars, around a dugong ( a dolphin-like creature). To the right of this a running man, to the lower left a woman with her back to the viewer, to lower right a bird; other birds, dugongs, spears etc scattered throughout the picture, with the rest of the space taken up with an intensively worked, irregular, semi geometric linear pattern. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Production type | Limited edition |
| Copy number | 10/85 |
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Gallery label | In the 1990s young artists in the Torres Strait Islands north of Australia began to rediscover their local material culture, largely lost under colonialism, by making linocut prints celebrating traditional visual patterns, creation myths and other stories . In this print the story relates to the shaping of the land itself, described in a map-like narrative.(2007) |
| Credit line | Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Places depicted | |
| Summary | During the late 19th century the people of the Torres Strait Islands, north of Australia, were converted to Christianity and their characteristic material culture gradually began to disappear. However, in the 1990s a group of young artists who had studied in mainland Australia began making linocuts based on traditional visual patterns and oral narratives. Many of their works comment on contemporary concerns and events alongside traditional myths, which are often very funny, revealing the less appealing sides of human behaviour. Each island has its own stories and creation myths, which the artists narrate through groups of figures, animals and objects. These images are set against intense linear patterns known as a minarals, each artist having developed their own unique minaral. In this story a young man deserts his mother for having deceived him. Her figure, weeping by the shore, turns into a rock, which is said to be seen on Mua Island today. |
| Bibliographic reference | David Bosun, Gelam Nguzi Kazi in Gelam Nguzi Kazi - Dugong My Son, Exhibition catalogue of the linocuts by the artists of the Mualgau Minaral Artist Collective, from Mua Island in the Torres Strait. 2001, Kubin Community Council, Mua Island, Torres Straits, Queensland. (isbn 0 9579686-0-4) |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.1092-2002 |
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| Record created | January 6, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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