AustLit
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Technique: Linocut
Edition: 7/50
Catalogue raisonne: N/a
Image dimensions: 100.0 x 200.0 cm
Paper dimensions: 120.0 x 220.0
Frame dimensions: 130.5 x 230.5 x 6.0 cm
Inscriptions: None
Provenance: Purchased from the National Gallery of Australia by the University of Queensland Art Museum in 2008.
Purchased from the Impressions on Paper Gallery (Canberra) by the National Gallery of Australia in 2008.
Credit line: N/a
Accession no: 2008.06
Copyright line: N/a
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Tipoti’s linocut records the ancestral story of the hunter Dthuwal Buthu and his three sons: Wadth, Zigin, and Kusikus. The story begins with a local witchdoctor initiating the sons into manhood. Three nights before the ritual, the youngest son, Kusikus, escapes and travels along the beach. During his journey Kusikus kills an excessive amount of sea animals for meat and he creates a hanging mask from the carapaces. Later, Kusikus spies a witchdoctor and watches him whilst he conducts a spell. The witchdoctor is unnerved by Kusikus’ presence and angrily turns the spell onto an unaware Kusikus. The next day Kusikus stands on poisoned thorns and falls into a giant clamshell that severs his head when it closes. On the other hand, Wadth and Zigin obey the witchdoctor and successfully become men.
Many years later, Wadth and Zigin would frequently canoe into the sea to catch turtles. However, Zigin becomes bored and refuses to participate, leaving Wadth to do Zigin’s hunting. After a while Wadth stops providing for Zigin. In anger and jealousy Zigin continually asks the spirits of the moon to take away Wadth’s catch, however, it is Zigin who eventually starves to death.
From this brief summary, it is apparent that Tipoti’s linocut contains a complex moral story. This story can be interpreted through the symbolic use of characters and animals. Assumedly, the five characters are represented in the top-left corner of the artwork. Moving from left to right in this area is Dthuwal, the witchdoctor, and the three brothers in a canoe. The witchdoctor is positioned further towards the background and appears to be watching the sons and their father from a distance (as he does in the story).
The endings of each brother’s story can be seen in the circular shape towards the right of the linocut. In this shape Zigin is depicted as being swooped by birds, demonstrating his death by starvation. It also suggests that his body was consumed by nature, perhaps as a form of karma in return for his brutal attitude towards animals. Wadth is illustrated in the right side of the linocut hunting fish. However, the figure could also be interpreted as a spirit enforcing karma by taking the fish away from Zigin’s hunting area so that he will not have food to hunt. In the bottom half of the circle Kusikus can be seen falling to his death into the giant clam.
Throughout the artwork are animals that feature in the story such as turtles, a shark, fish, birds, a ray, and a snake. Turtles are the most frequently depicted and in most instances they are portrayed mating. This is important as the story takes place during solal, the turtle’s mating season. Although not in the story, bats, a dugong and other native creatures are also apparent. Ancestral spirits are also common in the linocut, reinforcing their importance to the story and people of the Torres Strait.
The linocut’s use of black and white, in addition to the composition of the artwork, results in continuous movement. Large spaces of black push through the background to form the shapes of the characters and animals. These shapes are scattered and there is no clear center to the linocut. This continual movement is synchronic with the ongoing relationship between ancestral spirits and Torres Strait people.
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Alick Tipoti: Zugub, The Mask, The Spirits and the Stars. NITV, 2013. DVD.
Australian Art Print Network, “Alick Tipoti”, 2014. Web. 10 April 2014.
Chapman, Katarina, “Malu Minar: Art of the Torres Strait – The Cairns Regional Gallery Takes Torres Strait Culture to the World”, Art Monthly Australia 241 (2011): 29-32. Magazine Article.
Grishin, Sasha, “UnDisclosed: In Review”, Art Monthly Australia 252 (2012): 26-29. Journal Article.
Kershaw, Michael ed. Dennis Nona & Alick Tipoti: Legends through Patterns from the Past, Sydney: Australian Art Print Network, 2009. Print.
Koch, Grace and Alexandra Cowe, “Song, Land, and Ceremony: Interpreting the Place of Songs as Evidence for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Land Claims.” Collaborative Anthropologies, 6 (2013): 373-398. Journal Article.
Lane, Carly, and Francesca Cubillo, UnDisclosed: 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial, Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2012. Catalogue.
Rey, Una, “Presences in the Land”, Art Monthly Australia, 32.2 (2012): 102-104. Magazine Article.
Tipoti, Alick, Andrew Baker, and the Australian Art Print Network, Alick Tipoti: Malungu (from the sea). Brisbane: Andrew Baker Art Dealer, 2007. Catalogue.
Wright, Simon, “Carving Out a Bit of History: Dennis Nona and Alick Tipoti”, Artlines, 1 (2007): 26-33. Magazine Article.
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