Kaiwai [Bernacles mous] 2006
Eau-forte, éd.45, 70 x 100 cm
Le Kawai est un bernacle mou (crustacés), sans coquille. On dirait une gomme blanche qui rampe sur les rochers, avec de petites bosses. Quand on le touche, quand on le ramasse sous les rochers du rivage, il dégage une salive qui ressemble à du savon. Autrefois, l’après-midi, à l’heure de Ziba Zib (quand le soleil était presque couché), les femmes emmenaient leurs bébés parmi les rochers. Elles savaient où trouver le Kawai et en prenaient pour frotter le ventre des enfants. On appelle Ngdalai cette partie du corps. Au bout de dix minutes, la salive séchait, et les bébés n’urinaient plus avant le lendemain matin. |
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Kaiwai [Barnacle] 2006
Eau-forte, éd.45, 70 x 100 cm
It’s called Kawai in language. This work is an etching. Kawai – it’s a barnacle, a soft barnacle, not a shell one. It’s just like a rubber, it creeps on the rocks and it’s got little lumps. It’s found under the rocks on the shore, along the shore. If you touch it or pick it up it releases saliva, like soap or something. In the afternoon in the old days, when it’s Ziba Zib time (when the sun is almost gone), the ladies would take their little babies down to the rocks. They take the Kawai, it’s like this cake, and they rub it under the baby’s under belly. In language it’s called Ngdalai, it’s the underbelt of the babies, male and female, and that saliva is there. They rub it and when it dries, 10 minutes, tonight the babies won’t piss until tomorrow morning. It’s soft and looks very white. The ladies know where to find them. Sometimes they get some and they go and put it back on the rock and it will stay there for them. |