Sculpture 'Gubuka' by Dennis Nona

The object

The cast aluminium and bronze sculpture ‘Gubuka’ by Dennis Nona depicts two different kinds of leaping stingrays. Nona’s work embodies knowledge passed on through storytelling and dance from the Torres Strait Islands, providing a new visual narrative for ancestral myths which are an important tool in cultural survival.

Above: Gubuka, sculpture depicting two leaping stingrays in aluminium and bronze with pearl-shell inlay.

Understanding the sea

Between Australia and Papua New Guinea lie the Torres Strait Islands, over 250 islands, of which 17 are permanently inhabited. The sea provides a network of routes connecting the small volcanic islands and the shallow waters and reefs. These can be hard to navigate and Islanders read the signs of the ocean, since even the slightest changes of the environmental system can affect their daily lives.

The contemporary artist Dennis Nona from the Torres Strait Islands depicts the intense relation between people and the sea in his sculpture ‘Gubuka’:

“While fishing or diving, hunters occasionally see tupmul or guuwerr (two species of stingray) leaping out of the water. Tupmul are pale white, while guuwerr are dark brown. Such stingray behaviour heralds an imminent change in the weather, but also accentuates the spiritual connection between stingrays and humans.” (2009)

Adapting traditional knowledge to new techniques

Born in 1973, Dennis Nona learnt the craft of woodcarving as a child and later started to produce detailed and highly artistic linocuts and etchings. Although a skilled wood carver, he has concentrated more recently on transferring the styles used in his etchings and linocuts to work in bronze.

To make the sculpture ‘Gubuka’, Nona started with a drawing. He then worked together with a foundry patternmaker to create a polystyrene model of the final piece with a plasticine skin, in which he incised the intricate pattern of the stingrays. This model was used to create a mould for casting the sculpture in metal.

In this case, Nona used both aluminium and bronze to reflect the different species of stingray. Once cast, the pattern was picked out in black, any inlay was applied and the work was polished with wax.

Above: Click on the images to see a detailed picture of the incised pattern (left) and the mother of pearl inlay (right).

Nona calls this pattern 'language' as it presents an entire traditional story from the Torres Strait Islands.

Whilst the metals used are an entirely new material, the addition of shell inlay creates a material link with the past and the sea. The carving on the pearl-shell and the cast recalls patterns found on historic artefacts in the museum collections.

Above: Wood-carved dish from Papua New Guinea. Click on the image to see a larger version. You can view this object in our online collection here.

Visualising narratives

The Islanders of Torres Strait have a strongly spiritual relation to the animals of the sea. Nona uses this work to highlight the spiritual connection between stingrays and the people of the stingray clan:

“During the moments in which a stingray is airborne, before it flops back into the water, people of the stingray clan instinctively utter the word gubuka.”  (2009)

Traditionally, ‘gubuka’ was the preserve of a man of the totem Tupmul. Tupmul is the artist’s totem and one of the main totems of his island of Badu. A totem sacredly roots a ‘clan’ in its cultural history, as various legends explain the unique connection between a totem and a certain group of Torres Strait’s people.

The traditional masks in the museum’s Torres Strait Islands collection were made by men with specialist and restricted knowledge of stories and totems and were used in very specific ceremonies.

Above: Mask used in dance rituals and funeral ceremonies, made in Torres Strait Islands. Click on the image to see it in more detail.

Although the sculpture ‘Gubuka’ is directly linked to the stingrays, Nona’s work in general has become so important in visualising traditional stories that his role in preserving traditional stories has been recognized by the elders of his community.