Title
Djan'kawu creation story, from the series Djan'kawu story
1959
Artist
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Details
- Other Titles
- Djanggawo myth no. 4
Djanggawull myth no. 4
Djanggawul myth no. 4
Djang'kawu story no. 4 - 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
- 193.0 x 57.2 cm (irreg.)
- Credit
- Gift of Dr Stuart Scougall 1959
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- IA67.1959
- 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 left: The Djan'kawu are still at Port Bradshaw but on the southern side. They left their sacred armbands at one of their camps. The lines represent the feathered pendants hanging from the armband.
bottom right: A fruit with an edible root like a lily or cassava is depicted. At the centre is the root or stem while the radiating lines represent the fruit.
lower left: A female goanna (djanda) with her head under a stone. She is digging for food.
lower right: Wild inedible fruit growing on a palm.
upper left: Leaving there the Djan'kawu walked further. At a resting place they planted two rangga which became wild apple trees.
upper right: The Djan'kawu went back to the beach where they saw a male goanna eating a sand crab. The crab is shown in its hole in the sand.
top left: Two stones are depicted. When the Djan'kawu reached the stones they heard sounds that turned out to be Macassans treating trepang (sea cucumber).
top right: In the sea are underwater sandbanks. The central circle depicts a very deep hole. The radiating lines represent ripples on the sand while the dots represent trepang on one side and shellfish on the other.
The cross-hatching in this painting represents such aspects of the environment as the sea, leaves, swamps, sand, sand disturbed by digging and waves breaking over shallow water.
© 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 4 exhibitions
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
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Bibliography
Referenced in 1 publication
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Margie West (Editor), Yalangbara: art of the Djang'kawu, Darwin, 2008, 48 (colour illus.).
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