Mabel Juli Australian, Gija, b. c. 1933
GARNKINY NGARRANGGARNI
natural ochre and pigments on canvas
120 x 90 cm
838244
GARNKINY NGARRANGGARNI (MOONDREAMING) This is Yariny country in Darrajayin (Springvale Station) which lies south of Warmun. This is Juli's traditional country. In the Ngarranggarni (Dreaming), Garnkiny (the moon) was a...
GARNKINY NGARRANGGARNI (MOONDREAMING)
This is Yariny country in Darrajayin (Springvale Station) which lies south of Warmun. This is Juli's traditional country. In the Ngarranggarni (Dreaming), Garnkiny (the moon) was a man. One day Garnkiny came back from hunting kangaroo and saw a girl sitting with her mother. She was very beautiful with long black hair and he fell in love with her instantly. This girl was Daawul,the black-headed snake. However, she was his classificatory mother-in-law and so it was taboo for him to marry her.The old people asked him, 'Who do you want for your wife?'. He told them 'Dawyan, dawyan' (that one, that one) pointing to Daawul, but they said, 'No, she's your mother-in-law, you must marry one of these promised girls, these are nyawana, Daawul's daughters'. Again they asked him who he wanted to marry and he said once more 'Dawyan, dawyan'. The people then told him, 'You must go away!' He strode off angrily and cursed the people, telling them that they were going to die, but that he would always live. As the moon, he comes back to life every month. The wardal (stars) are Daawul's daughters of nyawana skin.
This is Yariny country in Darrajayin (Springvale Station) which lies south of Warmun. This is Juli's traditional country. In the Ngarranggarni (Dreaming), Garnkiny (the moon) was a man. One day Garnkiny came back from hunting kangaroo and saw a girl sitting with her mother. She was very beautiful with long black hair and he fell in love with her instantly. This girl was Daawul,the black-headed snake. However, she was his classificatory mother-in-law and so it was taboo for him to marry her.The old people asked him, 'Who do you want for your wife?'. He told them 'Dawyan, dawyan' (that one, that one) pointing to Daawul, but they said, 'No, she's your mother-in-law, you must marry one of these promised girls, these are nyawana, Daawul's daughters'. Again they asked him who he wanted to marry and he said once more 'Dawyan, dawyan'. The people then told him, 'You must go away!' He strode off angrily and cursed the people, telling them that they were going to die, but that he would always live. As the moon, he comes back to life every month. The wardal (stars) are Daawul's daughters of nyawana skin.
