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Modjarrkki the crocodile
Jay Rostron Jurrupula is a versatile Maningrida artist who has been creating beautiful lino print fabric at Babbarra Designs. She has a great eye for colour and a meticulous carving style.She also works with a range of other mediums including Etching, Stringybark (Eucalyptus Tetradonta) with Ochre Pigment and PVA Fixative, Screen Print, Pandanus Coiled Basket, Pandanus Dilly Bag, Pandanus Sculpture, Seed Jewellery. This linocut fabric has been beautifully printed in blue, yellow and white on a black cotton. Jay has carved symbols of her freshwater country and has illustrated part of the story of Modjarrkki the crocodile from her homeland in Gorlobidahdah. Two brothers and Modjarrkki the Crocodile ‘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
