Description
SEVANNA CARRINGTON
Ochre on Canvas
120 x 80 cm
Year: 2024
WAC424/24
YUNNUR
Sevanna is granddaughter to Churchill Cann who she was inspired by to paint this painting. The colours differ from her grandfathers but the story remains the same. This is what Churchill Cann says about his original painting. –
“This is la Kilfoyle, down by la river. This the camp where we bin mustering. Stockman. That snake story belonga this one. Snake bin say i’m gonna put a feather la head. He put la Darranyel feather on top. He bin say I going la different place. He go over la border. Pandanas Yard. Dance. And then he bin camp la river. He travel right down to Spring Creek, making Spring, waterfall everywhere. He went la Nine Mile and he got sick and he bin die there.
He bin jump from Mallee country, he bin go hunting for Kangaroo. The snake bin get behind him. He left his wife at Yunargarl (Mud Spring). Young bloke from Texas bin take over from there, from Wave Hill. His son bin take over. Snake bin come from the west, he drowned em. He came from the west to east, he make spring all the way. The south side, that’s from Kangaroo and Emu. He bin try and go back but that snake bin keep him back all the way. Then he got to nine mile and he bin die there, old snake. The dog bin jump over, he bin change into a killer dog. He living la Yunurr now, that dog. Mulunggurr – they call him.Killer dog. He there now.”
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This painting is about the country which lies east of Warmun, called Kilfolye. It is where Churchill used to muster. The Dreaming story for this country is about a snake who made all the waterholes and turned into a killer dog.
The snake put a black cockatoo feather on his head. He wanted to go to a different place, so he went over to the NT border to Pandanas Yard and danced. He camped at the Spring Creek and started to make all the springs and waterfalls from around there. There was a young bloke who used to run the station there. He was drowned by the snake.
There was a dog who went out looking for Kangaroo and left his wife at Mud Spring (north of Warmun). After hunting he wanted to go back to his wife, but the snake wouldn’t let him. That snake jumped on the dog’s back and kept him there. The snake turned into the dog, a killer dog, and died there. He is still there now.