education resource No ordinary place: the art of David Malangi a national gallery of australia travelling exhibition No ordinary place: the 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 GurrmirringuGurrmirringu thethe GreatGreat HunterHunter 19691969 Islander Art at the National Gallery of Australia. Milingimbi, central Arnhem Land, Northern Territory This publication includes essays by Susan Jenkins, natural pigments on eucalyptus bark Purchased 1987 Nigel Lendon, Djon Mundine, Margie West and National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 87.757 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. 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 All David Malangi’s work is reproduced with the members, wherever it has been possible to locate them. permission of VISCOPY, Australia 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 In Indigenous culture from Australia a person’s painter of central Arnhem Land. He is an important name is not spoken for months or years after artist to Balanda [white people] because as well their death depending on the cultural practices as following the old ways of painting the Ancestral of their clan or language group. During that time stories, he created highly distinctive and visually they are referred to by another name. Malangi’s powerful compositions to represent them. He is best other name is Daymirringu. This extra name is known for his design reproduced on the reverse sometimes used, but he was commonly known side of the Australian one dollar note in 1966 when as David Malangi. Australia converted to decimal currency. The work of David Malangi The main subjects of Malangi’s paintings were the lands for which he was responsible: Mulanga, the David Malangi’s bold style of painting was land on the eastern side of the Glyde River which distinctive. He used thick white lines, large areas of he inherited from his father; Dhämala and Dhäbila black, chocolate brown ochre and generous rärrk. on the western side of the river and the lands The imagery in his paintings was presented through surrounding the Yathalamarra billabong further blocks of solid colour emphasised with strong west which he inherited from his mother. These outlines. He represented parts of the Ancestral lands are approximately 500 kilometres east of stories in areas defi ned by the limbs of trees, river Darwin. tributaries or columns. These stories were sometimes reduced to one essential motif. Find other examples of bark paintings by Arnhem Land artists and compare these with David Malangi’s paintings. How is Malangi’s style different? ➞ MOOROONGA IS ➞ Arafura Sea N MILINGIMBI IS Milingimbi k Gupa gupa HOWARD IS Dhäbila akila Cree Wurrdigirrmirr Djig Gilimgarri Castlereagh Bay Burridulpum Buwany Glyde River k Mangbiri mouth Dhipirri BANYAN IS a Cree il Yathalamarra Dhämala Ngurrunyuwa b Wulngir Woralngur Dhä Yathalamarra Bilimarr Mulanga Gapuwiyak ➞ Gatji (Lake Evella) Ngangalala Wo o len Ramingining Rive r 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 fi rst 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 fl attened 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 identifi es the land; it can also represent a clan, skin, light and spiritual presence, and energy. MangroveMangrove GoannaGoanna [1960s] The dots on the goanna’s head and tail [Milingimbi],[Milingimbi], centralcentral AArnhemrnhem represent the pattern of its skin. What could the Land,Land, NorthernNorthern TerritoryTerritory rärrk represent? naturalnatural pigmentspigments onon woodwood ArtArt GalleryGallery ofof WesternWestern Australia,Australia, PerthPerth 11988/1099988/1099 The country: Mulanga country David Malangi was born in Mulanga, an area of rocky cliffs, mud fl ats, mangrove-lined tributaries, swamplands and jungle. Here the great Ancestral Hunter, Gurrmirringu — known as the ‘fi rst man’ — wandered, harvesting fruit, seeds and berries, and hunting goanna, kangaroo, birds and fi sh. 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 fi rst 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 CérémonieCérémonie ffunéraireunéraire barkbark paintingpainting in 1966. An image of Malangi’s, featuring Collected by Karel Kupka in 1963 MNAO 64.10.6 Gurrmirringu’s mortuary feast, was chosen for Photo: Musée des Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie © Photo: RMN — Arnaudet 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 Malangi had rights as a senior Manharrngu painter the Reserve Bank for appropriate recognition. to paint that part of the Gurrmirringu story which The Bank’s Governor, Dr H. C. Coombs, related to Mulanga country. This painting shows corrected this mistake; Malangi was paid for the Gurrmirringu ‘the fi rst man’ being ceremonially use of the image and presented with a specially prepared for burial. His body has been painted with struck medallion. This was the fi rst recognition rärrk, symbolically connecting him with the land. of copyright for Indigenous artists’ designs in He is surrounded by men performing ceremonial Australia. songs to ensure the Ancestral spirit arrives safely at its fi nal resting place. The men hold clapsticks and didjeridu and are shown sitting with their legs tucked underneath their bodies. Surrounding this immediate group of fi gures are the animals of the story. They represent both Gurrmirringu’s food and the mortuary feast. The white berry tree, which What form does the symbolises the Hunter’s life and death, fl anks the Australian one dollar scene. take today? Why did the change take place? David Malangi used a different grinding stone to Why was an Indigenous prepare each colour. Why would he do this? work of art chosen for ReverseReverse ofof thethe $1$1 notenote the one dollar note? Photo: Reserve Bank of Australia What colours has Malangi used in his painting? David Malangi began producing the foot paintings in his senior years.