-
Artworks
Mabel Juli Barlinyin, East Kimberley, Western Australia, b. 1932
Bush Turkey and Emu Dreaming, 1999Natural ochre on canvas100cm x 140cmThis painting by Mabel Juli tells the Emu Dreaming: Two wiyarril (emus) took boomerangs from their husbands in the Ngarrangkarni (Dreaming) and then followed their husbands on a long journey,...This painting by Mabel Juli tells the Emu Dreaming: Two wiyarril (emus) took boomerangs from their husbands in the Ngarrangkarni (Dreaming) and then followed their husbands on a long journey, fighting all the way. When they got to Moola Bulla (where Mabel Juli was born) the emus told their mothers, the bingirrlbul (bush turkey women), to take the boomerangs and keep going south. The bush turkey women said "no, we're staying here, because there's good ngudja (bush tucker)". Ngudja is a plant that grows like a creeper and has green tucker (fruit) on it. Emus still have little boomerangs that they have carried with them since the Ngarrangkarni. You can see them on both sides under their wings when you take all their feathers off. The figure at the centre of the painting is an emu, with a bush turkey on either side. The line of dots across the painting is the road they travelled.