Manparra : Big Boss Man: Seminal men's work from Gija country
Past exhibition
Patrick Mung Mung Australian, Gija, b. 1948
Yoonggoony, 2012
Natural ochre & pigment on canvas
140 x 100 cm
839875
This country is Ngarragooroon Country. This country is Betty's country. Betty is Patrick's wife, senior Warmun artist Betty Carrington. This part of the country has few trees, just rocks and...
This country is Ngarragooroon Country. This country is Betty's country. Betty is Patrick's wife, senior Warmun artist Betty Carrington. This part of the country has few trees, just rocks and hills. 'When I was a little boy, I used to walk that country. Would come over the range, near Purnululu (Bungle Bungles). I still go there but in a motor car now. We used to walk there just with flour and sugar and that was it. That was a big, hard time. Grew up on the station, that my school.' At the centre of the painting is a nawanji (cave). 'Water comes up inside the cave, drinking water, it's there all the time. Inside the cave a Yoonggoony lives [a Yoonggoony is a big, hairy cave man]. He like a big kangaroo, but with more power. There's the biggest mob of them out there. If you see one he might pretend to be wounded, but watch out, he just tricking, he can still grab you and snap your neck. Watch out.'