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Kabuwai - Halo Around the Moon
Dennis Nona
(Badu Island)
Torres Strait
2006
etching, edition 45
39.25" X 27.75"
$725 CDN
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This work explains the moon's connection to weather in the Western Torres Strait islands. A white halo around the moon in calm weather (Muturu) signals there will be rain in a few days time. A halo during heavy wind indicates that rain will fall sooner (Ariel Goiga). The colour of the moon also predicts weather change. In this work, because the moon is at its brightest, the weather remains calm. Frog (Katubae) and cockroach (Zirue) also indicate change. On Badu Island, frogs are symbols of rain; and when the cockroach begins to fly in swarms, the wind will pick up in a few days time. When they fly again, the wind is bound to drop, and around this time the moon's halo will disappear. The symbols around the white halo are also engraved onto paddles and used in rain ceremony, although some have been developed into a new iconography associated with weather change. The blue rim reflects the deep ocean around Badu Island in an area called Dgnorr.
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