Amy Friday

Amy Friday was a Yanyuwa elder who started painting in 2003 as one ofthe founding members of Waralungku Arts. She lived on an outstation 30kms down the river from Borroloola until 2014 when she moved to Katherine for her health. Amy was also a member of the Ngardiji Dance Group and Borroloola Song Women.   Two major themes in Amy’s paintings were dugongs and the dugong hunter, and the Seven Sisters Dreaming. For Amy the Seven Sisters Dreaming usually took the form of baby blue-ringed octopi. In regards to the dugong hunter Amy said:   “I paint that man, he knows how to hunt that dugong – he is a dugong hunter. In those days dugong was one of our main foods and clever hunters were really needed. In those days, long time ago he would kill dugong with the harpoon – I call it ridi ridi (harpoon). On the rock is growing the grass and sea plants; that’s the dugong feed. There is lijakkarabirri (octopus), adomo (stingray), and sea snake. Two people would usually go in one boat. In those days, them old fella like me, used to teach the young fella."