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Modjarrkki (crocodile story)

‘This is a true story. My great great grandfather and my father told this story and I tell it to my children. It’s about a freshwater crocodile called Modjarrkki. One day an unmarried man who was camping with his brother and his brothers wife went walking by himself. He came to a creek where he found a crocodile. He went back to camp and said to his brother ‘hey I found a croc, lets go kill it!’. He tried to kill the crocodile but the crocodile bit his brother. He bit his guts, his hand, his legs and he died. Modjarrkki was an angry crocodile but today Modjarkki doesn’t bite people, he’s only a little crocodile and he eats barramundi. He is still alive and he lives in rock country, Karrabarda, which is in Gorlobidahdah.’ Jay Rostron Jurrupula

Name: Jay Jurrupula Rostron


Language: Kune, Kuninjku, Rembarrnga


Community: Maningrida


Biography:

Belinj Jay is a versatile Maningrida artist who has been creating detailed linocut fabric and drawings at Babbarra Designs. Jay references her ancestral stories of Namurre Boko ( two brothers story) and Modjarrkki in her work. She loves to illustrate the plants and animals that live in the freshwater country around her fathers homeland of Korlobidahdah, Arnhem Land.

Jay has worked with a range of mediums including etching, linocut prints, Stringybark (Eucalyptus Tetradonta) with Ochre Pigment and PVA Fixative, Pandanus Coiled Basket, Pandanus Dilly Bag, Pandanus Sculpture, Seed Jewellery.


© the artist / art centre