This piece is available framed ($Neg)

33 DN098
Dennis Nona Sarup Au Zig - Lost Man 2006
Etching Paper: 960mm x 1390mm $1500
Story:Sarup means stranded out in the sea. That's what the word Sarup means - stranded out on the island or
something happens to you. This particular work is one of the biggest etchings I've done - it's based also on the
women of the island and how they have a gift. When the women walk they usually go hunting, mainly gathering
fruits and berries along the coast of the island. When they see a footprint they are so gifted that they know
everybody's footprints in the community. They will pinpoint who has been walking last night or the day before
yesterday. They'll know. The artwork is to do with head hunting. When she sees a strange footprint on the
island she'll know that there's a stranger on the island. He must have got stranded. His canoe tipped over or
something happened to him. He's here on the island somewhere. She will quickly make her way back to the
village and she will tell the secret to her husband. When the lady confirms that it is this man from another island
and is a stranger by looking at his footprint, in the artwork he has been walking back and forward and all over
the place. She says to herself in language 'Ngalbain Kuik', which means me and my husband - almost like saying
'head'. Head is referring to money - she found money; so she goes back to secretly tell her husband, 'I found
money'. He sits there with his head hunting knife (Upi) and Gaba Gab, bow and arrow (Taiyak) and waits for
midnight. When he leaves the house the woman is not allowed to clean up for two days and keep the babies
and children quiet at all times. During the hunting for the man, her husband will usually find the man on the
point of the island, sitting out on the point looking for canoes from his island. He will club the man down and
cut off his head and that head is traded to New Guinea for a hollow canoe valued at $5,000 for the one head.
Always sharks are blamed - some of them have ended up on the wrong island and they have a ceremony. I was
told that in the early 1900s the government still used the women of Thursday Island to find people. They would
get the ladies to identify the footprint. Mr James Eseli told me this. In this etching I have shaped the outline to
resemble a traditional etched rock drawing.
Medium: Etching
Edition Size: 45
Printer: Basil Hall
Studio: Basil Hall Editions
Etching Created At: Brisbane, QLD on April, 2005
Print Published: Darwin, NT on March, 2006
Paper: Hahnemuhle
Paper Height: 960 mm ( 37.8" )
Paper Width: 1,390 mm ( 54.7" )
Image Height: 810 mm ( 31.9" )
Image Width: 1,280 mm ( 50.4" )
I.D. : DN098