Oh for an Ochre
Ochres from the East Kimberley

3 AM 5757/08
Mabel Juli Wanyaginy Ngarrangkarni (Little Boy Dreaming) 2007
Natural ochre & pigment on canvas 120 x 45cm $4200
'Little one this one, one kid. This is the coolamon for him, garnanyi, stick (digging stick). This one coolamon we
call him landurrji, this wanyaginy he bin bagu there la landurrji and he bin roll over now. He bin lumbud, he
sleep gat his gut, lumbud giniwardji. He bin roll down from that, he bin roll over, he bin sleeping la this side.
From there where he bin lumbud, he get up. He sit down there now, rurt nginiwardji. Rurt nginini. Kerarr
wanayji, well he bin crawl and then stand up there, he bin think about, What I gotta do? He got 'im garnanji and
tommyhawk now. He go looking round for sugarbag, from where he was a little boy now. He bin get
tommyhawk and garnanji. He bin linglinga gungkum, 'gabuwa nginbirn'. He bin say, 'What I gotta do?' and he
bin go pick him up that tommyhawk and garnanji and he bin go hunting now, get him bat sugarbag. Dunkald
wanemany. Nawarawu nginini, he bin grow up. Ngarrangkarni, yeah. And this one that Ngarrangkarni
tommyhawk, ngajiral, but we call him wumal. He bin lirndij, make him sharp kat a mangada and he bin lirnij bat
that wumal. He bin get that tommyhawk and go walkabaout. This story is about a little boy in the
Ngarrangkarni (Dreaming). His coolamon, landurrji, and his digging stick, garnanji can be seen on the left of the
painting. The boy was asleep in the coolamon, on his stomach. Traditionally in Gija society, babies were placed
in a coolamon straight after they were born. The boy woke up and rolled out of the coolamon. From where he
was sleeping, he rolled, sat down on the ground. He then crawled, then he stood up. The boy started thinking
about what to do now that he could walk. He picked up the digging stick and his tomahowak and went looking
for sugarbag. This story follows this boy growing up in the Ngarrangkarni (Dreaming). To the far right is a
Ngarrangkarni tomahawk; it is called wumal in Gija. The boy sharpened the blade of the tomahawk with a
mangada (sharpening tool). He took the tomahawk and went hunting.