Art Aborigène
 

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Dennis Nona - "Ubirikubiri" (DN116)

Linogravure, éd.45, 140 x 87 cm, 2007 1 exemplaire disponible encadré + 2 exemplaires non encadrés

Cette légende a pris naissance sur la rivière Mai Kusa, sur la côte ouest de la Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée.

A la suite de la mort de sa femme un homme décida de donner un animal de compagnie à sa fille afin de la consoler. Il lui amena un chiot qu’elle refusa. Il décida alors de lui apporter un porcelet qu’elle rejeta également. On voit d’ailleurs ces deux animaux au bas de la composition.

Un jour qu’il pêchait il trouva un bébé crocodile qu’il rapporta à la maison pour le montrer à sa fille. L’animal plut beaucoup à celle-ci ; elle lui donna alors un nom : Ubirikubiri. Son père fabriqua un enclos pour le crocodile qu’il adapta à sa taille à mesure qu’il grandissait.

Une fois que le crocodile atteignit sa taille adulte, le père partit rendre visite à des amis dans un autre village et oublia de nourrir le crocodile pendant son séjour. Ubirikubiri était affamé et très en colère d’avoir été laissé sans nourriture pendant si longtemps. Quand le père rentra et alla nourrir enfin le crocodile, celui-ci le tua, détruisit l’enclos et emporta le cadavre sur son dos pour rejoindre la rivière Mai Kusi en laissant des traces derrière lui (on voit ces traces au centre de la composition). Lorsqu’elle revint à la maison la fille vit l’enclos détruit ainsi que les traces d’un affrontement. Elle suivit les traces laissées par Ubirikubiri jusqu’à la rivière appelant le crocodile pour lui demander ce qui était arrivé à son père. Quand elle le trouva enfin elle pria le crocodile de lui rendre son père mais celui-ci refusa et s’enfonça dans la rivière.

La morale de cette histoire est que lorsque l’on prend des animaux dans la nature il faut bien les traiter.

Linocut, ed.45, 140 x 87 cm, 2007 1 framed copy available + 2 unframed

This is a legend that took place on the Mai Kusa (River) on the Western coast of Papua New Guinea.

Following the death of his wife a man decided to give his daughter a pet to help console her and keep her company. He brought her a puppy but she didn’t like it. He then brought her a piglet but she didn’t like that either (both the dog and piglet are seen at the bottom of the print). One day when he was out spearing fish on the beach he came across a baby crocodile which he caught and took home to show his daughter.

She really liked it and named the crocodile Ubirikubiri. Her father made a pen for the crocodile. As it grew he kept enlarging the pen. After it had become fully grown the father went to visit friends in another village and neglected to feed Ubirikubiri the entire time he was away. When he returned Ubirikubiri was very hungry and very annoyed having been left without food for such a long time. As the father went to feed Ubirikubiri some fish he grabbed him and killed him then broke out of the pen placing the father on his back and heading off to the Mai Kusi leaving the tracks seen in centre of the print. The daughter, who had not been at home when Ubirikubiri seized her father, saw the broken pen and evidence of a skirmish. She followed Ubirikubiri’s tracks to the river calling out to the crocodile to tell her about her father. At Ziba Ziba (that time of day when the sun has almost set) Ubirikubiri appeared on the river bank with her father on his back. She pleaded with the crocodile to give up her father but shaking his huge body he refused and headed back in to the river.

There is a moral to part of this story that instructs us that if animals are taken from their natural environment they must be looked after and treated and cared for properly. 

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