Artist: David Daymirringu Malangi | Title: Manbarrngu (Mortuary Rights) | Year: | Medium: Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark | Dimensions: 82 x 49 cm

Artist Profile
David Malangi, who began painting in the early 1960’s, played a vital role in the development of the contemporary Aboriginal art movement and became, during his lifetime, one of the great inspirational figures of Arnhem Land art. While, for many older Australians, he is best known for the image that featured on the now defunct one-dollar note, he was also a traveling ambassador for his country and his people and achieved worldwide recognition for his innovative yet deeply tradition-based bark paintings. He was born at the mouth of the Glyde River in Central Arnhem Land and like many of the Manharrju people, divided his time between periods at the off-shore Milingimbi mission and extended stays in his own country on the mainland, where he and his family lived according to traditional law. He often worked on the mission as a garden labourer and caring for livestock. He had been painting for ceremony since his teenage years but after the death of his father in the late sixties, he became apprenticed to the ceremonial leader Ghawadanygulili. He soon took a more serious approach to painting as a career, and painted for a growing audience outside of his tribal group. He had already been painting for more than fifteen years when, in 1979, he became a founding member of the Ramingining Arts and Crafts centre, later called Bula Bula Arts, which enabled him to paint full time. Continue Reading