Alick Tipoti

Nudaik is a traditional hunting practice of the Maluiligal. It is when after a dugong is speared, a rope is tied around the tail. It is then baited. It cries out sending vibrations of sound through the water. Other dugongs are lured towards its cry. When another dugong is targeted, the previous action by the hunters of using the Wap (harpoon), Kuyur (dart), Amu (rope) is then practiced to catch it. This print also shows the spiritual connection between the hunters and the food source. The reflections of the hunters are slightly different from the positions of the hunters in the canoe. When in contact with ancestral spirits from the past, the reflections become the spirits of the water world guiding the dugongs, and selecting the best type (healthy) one from the herd. The laser cut image on the Skateboard is a reproduction of the artist’s original linocut.