Tea Towel with Sapur Au Kubi (Bats) Artwork by Billy Missi

Description

Sapur Au Kubi (Bats) Tea Towel by Billy Missi

• Printed in Far North Queensland, Australia
• This tea towel is screen printed onto a material that’s a linen cotton mix.
• Dimensions: Height  105   cm x width  50   cm
• Artwork is from Billy Missi’s Sapur Au Kubi  linocut.
• Billy Missi was an Indigenous Artist from Moa Island in The Torres Strait, Far North Queensland.
• Artwork story: During mango, almond and cashew nut season a lot of Sapur (flying foxes) come to our village and gardens. When the sun begins to set in the western sky, the Sapur usually come in flocks from the thick mangroves that fringe the coastline. The Sapur only come out at dusk to raid the fruit trees so that people cannot see them. Otherwise they would be targeted by hunters and chased away. Despite this they do make a lot of noise as they feed. The Sapur suck the juice out of the fruit and dispose of the rest making a lot of mess under the trees. They do this all night until morning breaks when they take flight back to their isolated, thick scrubs and mangroves. Growing up in the islands in the 1970s, these sightings were common during fruit season. It is our uncles who tell us that whenever flocks of Sapur approach the gardens, the fruit is ripe. This image shows a large number of Sapur flying to the village to feed on the fruit trees. They circle above the trees to choose where they will feed for the evening.
• This Sapur Au Kubi Tea Towel is from Kick Arts  Blaq Flair Collection, Far North Queensland – Blak Flair is a KickArts creative merchandise project that has been generously supported by the Christensen Fund. The project aims to develop a collection of merchandise that portrays the work of Indigenous artists from Far North Queensland, to promote their work and cultural importance to the broader community.