Description
This is a trial proof of an etching plate that was later editioned in another state. As such it is unique and eminently collectable.
This print is based on a bedtime story told to naughty children on Badu Island. The central figure is a witch (dhogai) who steals babies from the village in the middle of the night. When it’s dark she leaves her cave and heads for the village. She listens out for little babies who won’t stop crying. The cries lead her closer and closer, and when the parents have turned their heads, she snatches the baby and takes it back to her cave. One baby is crying in the left hand corner of the image, while the others in her basket have already been captured. She also has one on her tongue. Back inside her cave, she pops their eyes out with her long fingernails. When the parents notice their baby is gone, they go after the dhogai and throw hot rocks at her. You can see the rocks are red, and that the witch herself is in red-hot trouble! When a child starts crying on Badu Island we tell them “the Dhogai is going to get you”. And they go quiet
