46 DN112
Dennis Nona Ubarrau Pyetutai - Rain For Native Fruits 2005
Etching Paper: 1000mm x 700mm $700
There are four different types of rain in this one. When the fruits - Ubaru is a plum fruit, it's a very popular fruit
on Torres Strait. Native plum fruit, it's very popular - it's like grapes or something like that. When the fruits'
flower comes out it's called Cosa. There's a very soft rain that comes through for a month before the monsoon, a
soft rain that comes to Torres Strait for 1 or 2 weeks - like a very soft shower of rain. The old people say that's
just for the flower. Then a week after, a little bit heavier rain comes - the language name for that one is called
Nurr - it's a little bit heavier now. Nurr is also when the fruit is out - it's bearing and the rain comes at the right
time. Then a week or two weeks after that a bit heavier rain comes now, which is called Kobae. Kobae is the fruit
that has gone orange and that is the time of the big rain, a little bit heavier rain. Then after that it stops - the rain
stops for a while, then that plum fruit turns brown, like a dark purple plum. Then the big rain comes. The fruit is
then called Giaasi, meaning the fruit becomes ripe and the big heavy rain does arrive, and it knocks the fruit off
the tree. Giassi means the heavy rain and the fruit has gone ripe - it means both. That's the very important rain
stages for that particular fruit. In the work there are little pencil frogs - pencil frogs when they make a skinny
noise or sharp noise, like c-r-r-r-r, they tell you the small rain is coming, but when you hear the big frogs like br-
br-br-, you know there's big fellas coming, big buckets of water. The small one, skinny one is for the small rain.
Medium: Etching
Edition Size: 45
Printer: David Jones
Studio: Queensland College of Art
Etching Created At: Darwin, NT on July, 2005
Print Published: Brisbane, QLD on March, 2006
Paper: Magnani
Paper Height: 1,000 mm ( 39.4" )
Paper Width: 700 mm ( 27.6" )
Image Height: 760 mm ( 29.9" )
Image Width: 450 mm ( 17.7" )
I.D. : DN112