Marita Sambono1968
Ngan’gikurrungurr. Ngambu Ngambu
Merrepen Arts
Nauiyu, Daly River,
Fitzmaurice region,
Northern Territory
Anganifinyi and apilirr
Echidna and Ants
Acrylic on canvas
”In this painting you can see the echidna together with the ants it feeds on. They live in the rocky areas and are generally found in crevices and under rock ledges. They are more active at night-time. The main hunting season is in the late wet season when the spear grass has seeded. During the dry season they are rarely seen. The flesh of the echidna is eaten after roasting on hot coals; occasionally they are boiled and eaten.”
Fog Dreaming
The fog at Marringarr
Serigraphy
”This is my grandmother’s Dreaming. Near the Moyle River there is a place called Marrengarr where the fog comes out of holes in the ground near the station house. This print shows these holes in the centre of the circles. The different layers around the circles are the fog spreading and floating over the land. My design captures both the movement of the fog and the spiritual danger associated with coming into contact with the fog.”
The ancestral spirits can take the form of fog and chase uninitiated strangers that come into this sacred home country area. Her design illustrates as such the movement of the fog, her family’s relation to the land; where the ancestor spirits protects her and her family but can threatens outsiders. The title Fog Dreaming refers to this specific geographical site, created in the dreamtime and the ownership of the area is transferred within the artist’s kinship group.
