Boy in flour drum
2014
Medium
etching
Measurements
49.6 × 32.7 cm (plate) 75.8 × 60.2 cm irreg. (sheet)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2015
© Heather Koowootha, courtesy of Canopy Art Centre, Cairns
Gallery location
Not on display
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Cairns, Queensland
Edition
ed. 2/35
Printing/Publishing
printed by Theo Tremblay, Editions Tremblay Print Workshop, Cairns
Inscription
inscribed in pencil l.l.: 2/35
inscribed in pencil l.c.: Boy in FLouR DRum
inscribed in pencil l.r.: Heather Koowootha 2014
chopmark l.r.: (…illeg.)
Accession Number
2015.5
Department
First Nations Australia
Physical description
Boy in flour drum is based on her family’s accounts of customary punishment on Aurukun Mission in dormitory days. A boy is imprisoned in a flour drum, with rope handles placed around his arms to restrain him. Frilled-neck lizards are tied around the boy’s neck to scratch the accused as part of his punishment.