28 DN091
Dennis Nona Gimma Gun 2005
Etching on Magnani Incisioni Paper Paper: 610mm x 330mm $425
Gima Guun is a traditional hunting word. It is associated with the hunting dogs for pig hunting. We go pig
hunting regularly on the island. When we go hunting sometimes we go with 8 to 10 dogs because some of the
pigs are really big. There are big boars with tusks. The inspiration for the work came from my thinking about the
patience you must have for this type of hunting. You can stand for hours up until the dogs start running
around. You can see that they are smelling the pig, and in this artwork you're standing there. The dogs are
running around you and they can't pick up the smell. They can smell it but there are pig tracks from yesterday
and last week. The dogs are getting confused air. When one out of those eight dogs - he will run - he will smell
the pig that's near us. When he runs he smells it and he's going to find the pig before all the other dogs. Then all
the dogs are going to run up to him, then we run after the pig. The work is about just that part of the hunting.
Just that hunting - we say in language that this dog, it had Gima Guun - the smell of the pig. Some of the dogs,
they just smell the feet but this one is quite popular this smelling up in the air. His nose will point up like that.
He will hop almost like a wallaby or kangaroo running and then he'll find the pig. We've got small dogs. Our
dogs weren't big. The dog is a totem on our island and it's part of my group. They've originally migrated from
New Guinea and they are little, this size dog, very small. Their colour is brown/black and they look like dingoes
but they're not dingoes. They've got very small noses - about the same size as the dingo. We call it Umai - he's a
totem of the island.

Medium: Etching
Edition Size: 45
Printer: David Jones
Studio: David Jones Editions
Etching Created At: Brisbane, QLD on September, 2005
Print Published: Brisbane, QLD on November, 2005
Paper: Magnani Incisioni
Paper Height: 610 mm ( 24.0" )
Paper Width: 330 mm ( 13.0" )
Image Height: 465 mm ( 18.3" )
Image Width: 250 mm ( 9.8" )
I.D. :DN091