David Malangi Daymirringu (1927-1999), Manyarrngu (Yolgnu) bark painter, printer and designer, was born at Mulanga, near the mouth of the Glyde River, just before Christian missionaries arrived on the nearby island of Milingimbi. For some years he painted only for ritual purposes, but in the 1960s he began painting commercially as well. In 1966 he gained nationwide fame when one of his paintings was reproduced on the new $1 note (without his permission); in the first-ever assertion of ‘copyright’ of traditional designs, he protested, and was recompensed with a commemorative medallion, $1000 and some fishing equipment. In 1979 Malangi and fellow Ramingining artists George Milpurrurru and Johnny Bonguwuy became the first Aboriginal artists to show their work at the Biennale of Sydney. His work featured in Australian Perspecta at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1983 and Dreamings in New York in 1988; he travelled to the opening of the latter with Jimmy Wululu. Malangi created ten poles for the Aboriginal Memorial and was one of three Yolngu people who sang the work into place at the National Gallery in 1988. In 1998 he received an honorary doctorate from the Australian National University. The National Gallery staged No Ordinary Place: the art of David Malangi in 2004.
Purchased 2005
© Martin van der Wal
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Djon Mundine OAM brings poignant memory and context to Martin van der Wal’s 1986 portrait photographs of storied Aboriginal artists.
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