Painting Item Number: A9045 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

A red, yellow, and black Dzunuk'wa with a child in a basket and a red-purple brown, yellow, and black octopus on a white background. Dzunuk'wa is bending forward in profile and facing to the right side where the octopus is facing to the left side. Dzunuk'wa has circular black eyes, red nostrils, a red mouth, and a black forehead with two white dots. The elbow has a black dot surrounded by a black circle. The large black and white five digit hand has an ovoid and sharp digit tips reaching forward. The buttocks has the face of a bird in profile and facing to the right side with a yellow beak and a red line below with three inverted black u forms. The knee has a black dot surrounded by a black circle. The large foot has five digit claws. The body is black. The basket is black and white with a yellow rim. The child has circular black eyes, red nostrils, a red mouth, and a black forehead with two white dots. The child has black hair, a black body, and a red hand resting on the rim of the basket. The octopus has circular black eyes, a yellow face, and a red-purple brown body. Pen on the top reads words for 'in the water' and 'octopus'. The painting is horizontally rectangular.

Narrative

One of a set originally painted in a spiral drawing book while Mungo Martin was in a Vancouver hospital in 1951.