No ordinary place: the art of David Malangi

a national gallery of australia travelling exhibition
No ordinary place: the art of David Malangi
education resource
No ordinary place:
place : t he art of David Malangi
a national gallery of australia travelling exhibition
This education resource was generously supported
by the Reserve Bank of Australia
No ordinary place: the art of David Malangi
features bark paintings, ceremonial objects and
sculptures made by David Malangi Daymirringu
a senior elder of the Manharrngu clan of central
Arnhem Land.
This resource has been prepared to assist with the
appreciation of works of art in the exhibition and
can be adapted to suit different age levels. It can
be integrated into both the visual art curriculum
and Aboriginal Studies.
The resource contains:
• Images of works of art from the exhibition
No ordinary place: the art of David Malangi
and contextual information on the artist
and Indigenous culture.
• Questions, activities and discussion points
for students.
Other resources
Further information on the exhibition No ordinary
place: the art of David Malangi is available online
at nga.gov.au/Malangi, which includes a version of
this resource that can be downloaded. Information
on David Malangi’s contribution to The Aboriginal
Memorial at the National Gallery of Australia can
be viewed at nga.gov.au/memorial.
A comprehensive overview of the art and life
of David Malangi is available in the exhibition’s
accompanying publication edited by Susan
Jenkins, Curator, Aboriginal Art and Torres Strait
Islander Art at the National Gallery of Australia.
This publication includes essays by Susan Jenkins,
Nigel Lendon, Djon Mundine, Margie West and
members of Malangi’s family and is available at
the gallery shop or online at ngashop.com.au
A free exhibition trail is available from the front desk
of the National Gallery of Australia and touring
venues.
All David Malangi’s work is reproduced with the
permission of VISCOPY, Australia
Gurrmirringu the Great Hunter 1969
Milingimbi, central Arnhem Land, Northern Territory
natural pigments on eucalyptus bark Purchased 1987
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 87.757
It is customary in Indigenous communities not to mention the name
or reproduce images of, or associated with, the recently deceased.
All such mentions and images in this resource have been reproduced
with the express permission of the appropriate authorities and family
members, wherever it has been possible to locate them.
Malangi with pipe and preparing hollow log for
The Aboriginal Memorial 1987 Photo: © Jon Lewis
The artist: David Malangi Daymirringu
David Malangi (1927–1999) of the Manharrngu
people was a loved senior elder and revered bark
painter of central Arnhem Land. He is an important
artist to Balanda [white people] because as well
as following the old ways of painting the Ancestral
stories, he created highly distinctive and visually
powerful compositions to represent them. He is best
known for his design reproduced on the reverse
side of the Australian one dollar note in 1966 when
Australia converted to decimal currency.
In Indigenous culture from Australia a person’s
name is not spoken for months or years after
their death depending on the cultural practices
of their clan or language group. During that time
they are referred to by another name. Malangi’s
other name is Daymirringu. This extra name is
sometimes used, but he was commonly known
as David Malangi.
The work of David Malangi
David Malangi’s bold style of painting was
distinctive. He used thick white lines, large areas of
black, chocolate brown ochre and generous rärrk.
The imagery in his paintings was presented through
blocks of solid colour emphasised with strong
outlines. He represented parts of the Ancestral
stories in areas defined by the limbs of trees, river
tributaries or columns. These stories were sometimes
reduced to one essential motif.
The main subjects of Malangi’s paintings were the
lands for which he was responsible: Mulanga, the
land on the eastern side of the Glyde River which
he inherited from his father; Dhämala and Dhäbila
on the western side of the river and the lands
surrounding the Yathalamarra billabong further
west which he inherited from his mother. These
lands are approximately 500 kilometres east of
Darwin.
➞
➞
Find other examples of bark paintings by Arnhem
Land artists and compare these with David Malangi’s
paintings. How is Malangi’s style different?
M OOROONGA IS
N
Arafura Sea
MILINGIMBI
IS
Milingimbi
Cr
ee
k
Gupa
gupa
HOWARD IS
D ji
ga
k il
a
Dhäbila
Wurrdigirrmirr
Castlereagh Bay
Gilimgarri
Burridulpum
ee
k
Mangbiri
Buwany
Glyde River
mouth
il a
Cr
Dhipirri
Yathalamarra
Dhämala
Yathalamarra
Bilimarr
Gatji
BANYAN IS
Ngurrunyuwa
Woralngur
Dh
äb
Wulngir
Mulanga
Gapuwiyak
(Lake Evella)
Ngangalala
W
oo
Ramingining
le
n
R iv
er
ARNHEM LAND
Arafura
Swamp
Dhuwa moiety Manharrngu country
Yirritja moiety Balmbi country
Mirrngatja
➞
Indigenous art from Australia has a special place
in this country as the art of the first people of
this continent. Indigenous culture from Australia
has been expressed through art and ceremony
for thousands of generations. Bark paintings are
just one of the many forms of art produced by
Indigenous people from Australia.
Bark painting is used in closed and restricted
ceremonies to reveal the presence and power
of the Ancestral characters and events. They are
made in the northern regions of Australia and
have also been made in Victoria and Tasmania.
The pigments used for the paintings are made
from natural minerals called ochres. Crushed
charcoal is used to make black paint and clay
is used for white. Ochres are ground, mixed with
glue (sap or egg was used before commercial
glue became available) and water to make
paint. The paint is applied with a brush that is
sometimes made from human hair tied to a twig.
The bark is stripped from the tree in one sheet
during the wet season when the sap is rising and
the bark is pliant. It is flattened by being dried
out under logs or hot sand, or over hot coals.
Today the sale of bark paintings is an important
source of income for Australian Indigenous artists
from Arnhem Land.
Compare Indigenous art of Australia with that of
other Indigenous peoples. What do they have in
common? Use the web to investigate.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s Malangi used
sculpture to represent parts of the Ancestral Story.
These sculptures include birds and goannas, who
inhabit Dhämala and Dhäbila country.
Rärrk is a design made from crisscrossed lines
of pigment which form a dense pattern. Rärrk
identifies the land; it can also represent a clan,
skin, light and spiritual presence, and energy.
The dots on the goanna’s head and tail
represent the pattern of its skin. What could the
rärrk represent?
Mangrove Goanna [1960s]
[Milingimbi], central Arnhem
Land, Northern Territory
natural pigments on wood
Art Gallery of Western
Australia, Perth 1988/1099
The country: Mulanga country
David Malangi was born in Mulanga, an area of
rocky cliffs, mud flats, mangrove-lined tributaries,
swamplands and jungle. Here the great Ancestral
Hunter, Gurrmirringu — known as the ‘first man’
— wandered, harvesting fruit, seeds and berries,
and hunting goanna, kangaroo, birds and fish. After
a good day’s hunting, Gurrmirringu sat down by a
waterhole in the shade of a white berry tree, to rest
and cook some of his catch. Lurking in the tree roots
was an evil tree spirit in the form of the king brown
snake who rose up and bit Gurrmirringu, killing him.
The death of Gurrmirringu gave Manharrngu people
their first mortuary (funeral) rituals.
The mortuary ritual of Gurrmirringu is the main
feature of many of Malangi’s paintings about
this land. His depiction of the story on bark was
reproduced on the reverse of the Australian one
dollar note. Subsequently Malangi became known
as the ‘dollar note painter’; he was sometimes
called ‘Dollar Dave’.
The Reserve Bank of Australia needed images
for the new decimal currency introduced
in 1966. An image of Malangi’s, featuring
Gurrmirringu’s mortuary feast, was chosen for
the reverse side of the one dollar note. Malangi
and his community were unaware that his bark
painting design was used on the new currency
until after it was distributed, and appealed to
the Reserve Bank for appropriate recognition.
The Bank’s Governor, Dr H. C. Coombs,
corrected this mistake; Malangi was paid for the
use of the image and presented with a specially
struck medallion. This was the first recognition
of copyright for Indigenous artists’ designs in
Australia.
What form does the
Australian one dollar
take today? Why did
the change take place?
Why was an Indigenous
work of art chosen for
Reverse of the $1 note
the one dollar note?
Photo: Reserve Bank of Australia
Cérémonie funéraire bark painting
Collected by Karel Kupka in 1963 MNAO 64.10.6
Photo: Musée des Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie
© Photo: RMN — Arnaudet
Malangi had rights as a senior Manharrngu painter
to paint that part of the Gurrmirringu story which
related to Mulanga country. This painting shows
Gurrmirringu ‘the first man’ being ceremonially
prepared for burial. His body has been painted with
rärrk, symbolically connecting him with the land.
He is surrounded by men performing ceremonial
songs to ensure the Ancestral spirit arrives safely
at its final resting place. The men hold clapsticks
and didjeridu and are shown sitting with their legs
tucked underneath their bodies. Surrounding this
immediate group of figures are the animals of the
story. They represent both Gurrmirringu’s food and
the mortuary feast. The white berry tree, which
symbolises the Hunter’s life and death, flanks the
scene.
David Malangi used a different grinding stone to
prepare each colour. Why would he do this?
What colours has Malangi used in his painting?
David Malangi
began producing the
foot paintings in his
senior years.
The foot belongs
to Gurrmirringu the
Ancestral Hunter.
The Manharrngu
clan word for foot
(luku)
luku) also means
footprints, tracks or
guides and refers
to the Ancestors
who led the way
for subsequent
s
generations. It
I also
means root of a tree
which in this painting
connects the people
to the Ancestral
underworld.
Luku (foot) 1994 Ramingining,
central Arnhem Land,
Northern Territory
natural pigments on
eucalyptus bark
Private collection, Canberra
By painting the
foot and not the
hunter, Malangi
has created a bold
visual statement
that represents the
Gurrmirringu story in
its simplest and most
essential form.
Design a symbol
with more than one
meaning.
The Ancestors (first beings) and their stories
explain how everything — the land, animals,
people, law and ritual — came into being and
continues to exist. Knowledge about Ancestral
beings and Ancestral time is revealed through
song, story, painting and dance. People gain
access to this information over a series of rituals
— from the least restricted to the most culturally
sensitive and powerful — allowing them to
slowly take on the responsibilities that come with
increased customary knowledge.
The snake that bit Gurrmirringu 1992
Ramingining, central Arnhem Land, Northern Territory
natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
Private collection, Canberra
The Gurrmirringu mortuary scene gave Malangi
more freedom to explore composition because its
use was not integral to ceremony. In the painting
The snake that bit Gurrmirringu Malangi moved the
white berry tree from the sides of the bark to the
centre of the composition, dividing the picture into
smaller sections which focus on parts of the story.
The painting sets the scene before the arrival of
Gurrmirringu and his subsequent death and funeral.
In the white berry tree paintings Malangi also
explored the effects of contrasting colour and
abstract forms; rows of white berries alternate
between yellow and black leaves; fields of dots
representing the berries fill large areas of the
painting. The contrasting colour and fields of berries
generate a ‘shimmering’ quality similar to that
produced by the use of rärrk.
With a partner, discuss why David Malangi’s
paintings appear to be flat (no sense of deep space).
What is abstraction? Can we describe parts of
Malangi’s paintings as abstract? Why or why not?
Dhämala and Dhäbila country
Dhämala and Dhäbila are diverse natural habitats
which include waterways, grasslands and vast
muddy plains that are dotted and fringed with
mangroves, paperbarks and palm trees.
The Djan’kawu Sisters who created and named
this country link clans across eastern and central
Arnhem Land. They came from the east, travelling
west with the sun, plunging their digging sticks
into the ground to create and name waterholes,
places, people, language, birds and animals.
At Dhämala they created Mirrmirrngurr
Milminydjarrk; a tiny mangrove-fringed waterhole.
The sisters hung their dilly bags in a nearby tree to
go in search of shellfish. The bags contained the
sacred law, held by the women. While they were
away the bags (with the law inside) were stolen by
the men, and from that time the knowledge and
law of ceremony was the domain of men.
It was in this area that the Djan’kawu Sisters
changed their language to Manharrngu (David
Malangi’s language) and gave the Manharrngu
people the colour black.
Malangi represented the Djan’kawu Sisters’ Story
in several series of barks which depict the animals
and plants the sisters encountered, created
and ate on their travels. These paintings of the
Djan’kawu were made when David Malangi was a
senior custodian of the land.
Compare this creation story with those of other
religions.
What do these stories tell us about the roles of men
and women in society?
Milminydjarrk is the sacred waterhole in Dhämala
country and is among David Malangi’s most
important symbols. The radiating design symbolises
the Djan’kawu Sisters Story, represented through
the rays of the sun by which the sisters travelled, the
tracks they made between the waterholes and the
sites they created. The design also represents the
woven conical mat used to give birth to the Dhuwa
moiety people and symbolises the procreative
powers of women. Milminydjarrk is also the word for
freshwater spring. Smaller waterholes connect to
Milminydjarrk by underground channels.
Djan’kawu waterholes 1975–76 Yathalamarra,
central Arnhem Land, Northern Territory
natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
Gift of Dr Joseph Reser 1990
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 90.1080
The yellow rärrk represents water run-off across the
mud plains and refers to the cycle of the seasons
and also suggests the birthing mat’s weave.
Yolngu believe the clan waterhole is the place
where the souls of the unborn dwell and where,
upon death, they return. As one of the Manharrngu
clan’s most sacred places, rules govern its
representation.
The waterhole design is similar to the design painted
on the bodies of young men during initiation and is
the basis for a sand sculpture used in mortuary rituals.
Why is water such a precious resource in Australia?
Explain what is meant by the phrase ‘well of souls’
in relation to Yolngu beliefs.
Most of the followers of the world’s religions believe
in souls or spirits. Choose three diverse religions and
investigate where souls or spirits dwell after death.
Malangi at Mirrmirrngurrr Milminydjarrk
Photo: Nigel Lendon 1993
River mouth map 1983 [Yathalamarra],
central Arnhem Land, Northern Territory
natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
Purchased 1984 Art Gallery of New South Wales,
Sydney 133.1984 Photo: Brenton McGeachie for AGNSW
In the early 1980s Malangi developed a new way
to represent his river country. The common feature
of these map-like paintings is a shaft of black which
divides the image into two columns to represent
the land on either side of the river.
The trunk and branches used in the white berry
tree paintings now becomes the river and its
tributaries in map view. Dividing the bark in this way
enabled Malangi to represent in sections, details
and episodes of the Ancestral events that created
the land. The events are placed according to
balance rather than correct positioning on a map.
Australian Indigenous people in Arnhem Land
call themselves Yolngu. The Yolngu have a
form of social organisation which divides all
things into two groups called moieties. The two
Yolngu moieties are Dhuwa and Yirritja. David
Malangi belongs to the Dhuwa moiety. People
of the same moiety cannot marry and certain
members of moieties must be careful of close
associations.
Gurrmirringu’s story, on the eastern side of the
river, is depicted by a sand bank where he sat,
the food he ate, and his spear and clap sticks. The
Djan’kawu Sisters story on the western side of the
river is depicted by the Milminydjarrk waterhole, the
sacred digging sticks and the fish and shellfish.
Malangi represents the stories of the Ancestors
through the things they used and the land they
touched all of which exist today. The symbols
remind the people that they share the experiences
of the Ancestors.
Yathalamarra country
Yathalamarra and its surrounds are David Malangi’s
mother’s country. Its focal point is a horseshoeshaped billabong surrounded by trees and
grasses and inhabited by freshwater life including
waterlilies, waterbirds and catfish.
Two Ancestral women, Biyay’ngu and Bundul,
created part of the country. They had large breasts
on their backs as well as their chests and carried
twined bags for carrying their vegetable food. At
the Yathalamarra billabong the two women used
their digging sticks to find waterlily roots, creating
part of the billabong with the plunge of their sticks.
Biyay’ngu and Bundul taught the Yolngu women
how to make the twined bags and how to process
the waterlily roots into bush bread.
Malangi spent the last 30 years of his life at
Yathalamarra as the ceremonial caretaker of his
mother’s country and its many ceremonies.
Malangi’s Yathalamarra paintings are dedications
to his mother’s Yirritja moiety and Balmbi clan land
and are distinctive for their wide horizontal format
and emphatic use of black.
What moiety does David Malangi’s mother belong to?
Women gathering lily roots and seeds at Yathalamarra,
July 1937 Photo: D.F. Thomson. Courtesy of Mrs D.M. Thomson,
Museum Victoria
David Malangi, in the billabong at Yathalamarra 1996
Photo: Penny Tweedie
Yathalamarra Story 1989 Yathalamarra, central Arnhem
Land, Northern Territory natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
Acquired 1989 with Mobil Oil Funds. Mobil Yathalamarra
collection Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
Collection, Darwin ABART-1118 Photo: Gilbert Herrada
The horizontal orientation of the bark enabled
Malangi to depict aspects of the ancestral story
rhythmically across the picture plane.
Yathalamarra Story focuses on the area of the
billabong where Biyay’ngu and Bundul reside. Their
pool, placed centrally on the bark, is surrounded
by waterweed. The column of rärrk surrounding the
pool represents Malangi’s mother’s country. The
ancestral women are shown by their digging sticks
and breasts and signify the creation of this area
of country. The circular shape, which is based on
a sand sculpture design, refers to ceremony as do
the columns which visually suggest the rhythm of
ceremonial songs and dances. Malangi’s extensive
use of black is an artistic choice and refers to the
water, the creatures that inhabit the water and the
place of souls.
List all the things you can identify about the
billabong creation story in this painting.
Using simplified outlines draw all the creatures you
have found in ponds or swamps.
What beliefs underpin Indigenous art from
Australia?
Graphic symbols are used in bark paintings to
illustrate Ancestral events. Create an image using
symbols that encapsulate a culturally important
event.
Principal sponsor
a proud partner of
This exhibition is supported by Visions of Australia, an Australian
Government Program supporting touring exhibitions by providing
funding assistance for the development and touring of cultural
material across Australia.
In association with Bula’bula Arts, Ramingining
(cover) At the Yathalamarra waterhole 1988
Ramingining, central Arnhem Land, Northern Territory
natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
South Australian Government Grant, 1988
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide 8812P90
The National Gallery of Australia is an Australian Government Agency