Title
Djan'kawu creation story, from the series Djan'kawu story
1959
Artist
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Details
- Other Titles
- Djannggawo myth no. 3
Djanggawul myth no. 3
Djanggawull myth no. 3
Djang'kawu myth no. 3
Djang'kawu story no. 3 - Place where the work was made
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Yirrkala
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North-east Arnhem Land
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Northern Territory
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Australia
- Date
- 1959
- Media category
- Bark painting
- Materials used
- natural pigments on bark
- Dimensions
- 192.0 x 67.5 cm (irreg.)
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Gift of Dr Stuart Scougall 1959
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- IA66.1959
- Copyright
- © Mawalan Marika. Licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Ltd
- Artist information
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Mawalan Marika
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
bottom: The first landing at Yalangbara (Port Bradshaw). The two Djan'kawu dig a well using the sacred mawalan (walking/digging sticks). The yellow rectangular area is a long stone alongside the well. Water is shown running out of the well. The black lines are human hair pendants attached to the mawalan.
lower left: Djan'kawu in the act of planting two sacred djuda trees near a small bay at the mouth of Yalangbara.
lower right: The Djan'kawu campsite. Scalloped area depicts rubbish and sand pushed back from the campsite. In the top left is a palm tree planted by Djan'kawu. The Djan'kawu are shown leaving and two goannas (djanda) taking over the site. Several rangga (ceremonial objects) are shown.
upper left: Another camp site where they leave their armbands with feathered pendants.
upper right: After crossing high sandhills they see the gadmura tree and hear the flying foxes in the tree.
top left: The goanna Djanda is digging in the sand hunting for food and is shown with its head in the hole. Djanda's tracks are shown to the right in the central division.
top right: Another camp site is shown here. Djan'kawu has seen the approaching dry season clouds and he is singing about them. Rangga including the sacred mawalan are shown in the sandhills.
The cross-hatching in this painting represents such aspects of the environment as different types of sand particularly beach sand and sandhills, etc.
© Information provided by the artist
Australian Art Department, AGNSW, 2000
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Places
Where the work was made
Yirrkala
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Exhibition history
Shown in 6 exhibitions
Gamarada, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Nov 1996–16 Feb 1997
Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000
Yalangbara, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 11 May 2006–23 Jul 2006
Country Culture Community (2008-09), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 12 Nov 2008–19 Apr 2009
Yalangbara: art of the Djang'kawu, National Museum of Australia, Canberra, Canberra, 09 Dec 2010–25 Sep 2011
Yalangbara: art of the Djang'kawu, Museum and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin, 26 Nov 2011–17 Jun 2012
Yalangbara: art of the Djang'kawu, Western Australian Museum, Perth, 17 Nov 2012–24 Feb 2013
Maḏayin:Eight Decades of Aboriginal Bark Paintings from Yirrkala, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, United States of America, 16 Sep 2022–04 Dec 2022
Maḏayin:Eight Decades of Aboriginal Bark Paintings from Yirrkala, American University Museum, Washington D.C., 28 Jan 2023–21 May 2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 1 publication
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Margie West (Editor), Yalangbara: art of the Djang'kawu, Darwin, 2008, 47 (colour illus.).
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