DN162/52

The artist has created a series of five etchings based on the traditional combs that were seen throughout the Torres Strait Islands.

The imagery depicted in the works is a contemporary interpretation of the old patterning or Minar seen incised into these traditional objects.

The artist wished to base the designs around nature and has chosen birds, animals and totems that are common to his island of Badu. In so doing he has made them place specific, just like the traditional combs made hundreds of years ago that would identify them as belonging to a particular clan or island.

The comb depicts a Spoon Bill which is a bird seen on the artist’s island of Badu. The teeth of the comb can be interpreted as the Ngarr or legs of the Spoon Bill.