Dennis Nona

Dennis Nona’s prints and sculptures reflect his Torres Strait Islander heritage and in particular his intimate association with the sea and its creatures. Mutuk, 2009, tells the story of a Badu man who was punished for disobeying community obligations. Mutuk, a greedy fisherman, did not share his catch with the Kwod, the body of village elders and sorcerers (represented by the semi-circle of shells below the shark’s fin), and for this he was cursed. When he next went fishing, he was eaten by a shark. But Mutuk survived and eventually cut his way out using a sharp shell, emerging on a reef close to Boigu Island. Local warriors were poised to kill him, when he was recognised by his sister. Exhausted, he was rowed back to his home island (as depicted on the shark’s back), but a cloud of flying foxes prophesised imminent danger. His sister, recognising these omens, is shown grieving within the group of bats. Sure enough, on his return, Mutuk – for whom a funeral ritual had been performed – was condemned by the Kwod, and was beheaded.