DAYNGANGGAN

This painting was painted at Milingimbi, Crocodile Islands, Central Arnhem Land
Milingimbi Methodist Mission (Label on the reverse)
Private collection

The bark is attached to a heshin mount (possibly with glue). It appears in very good condition overall with some minor hair line cracks in the surface areas and there are some minor areas of pigment loss with the majority being the white pigment. Overall the work is in a good and stable condition for its age.
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 Cf. For related paintings by Djawa, see The High Totem – Birrkulda Ceremony, 1960s, and Spirit and Tree – Djalumbu Mortuary Rites, c.1958, in O'Ferrall, M.A., Keepers of the Secrets: Aboriginal Art from Arnhemland in the Collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 1990, pp.64, 67, pl.72, 75, respectively; for  two untitled works featuring the same Yirritjawild honey design, by Djawa and Bunguwuy, see Groger-Wurm, H.M., , Australian Aboriginal Bark Paintings and their Mythological Interpretation: Vol.1 Eastern Arnhem Land, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1973, p.87, pl.120, 121, illus.

See also Daynganggan, Two ancestors: A dream prior to circumcision, 1959, in Capon, E. et al, Gamarada: Friends, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1996, p.44

The painting features two figures painted up for ceremony: the body design of diamond shapes represents the hive of the native bee that produces wild honey or sugarbag. The design belongs to the Yirritja moiety. As the ancestors cut into trees to release the honey, it flowed into the ground – a metaphor for the ancestors' spirit sanctifying the land. In ceremony, this ancestral power is tapped, and the painting of participants' bodies with the design infers the dancers are imbued with that power.

The attached label reads: "This is a dance from the Birrkurda ceremony of the Gupapuyou people (sic). It is usually indicated by the presence of a 'sugar bag' somewhere in the painting. The Birrkurda is the climax of the sacred ceremonies held prior to the full initiation or circumcision of youths during which time they are instructed in the secret of tribal mythology. The bee (principal dancers of the ceremonies) enters the hollow tree through a hole in a branch or trunk. There it forms the hive and the 'sugar bag'. The diamond shapes indicate the cells formed inside the tree: the various colours within these shapes represent wax, honey and the eggs. The hole forms a much sought after 'sugar bag' of the wild bees, the totemic Emu of the Gupapuyou people (sic). Quite often, one or more dancers from this cycle of ceremonial dancing is included within one painting. Some of the dances are: saltwater, bandicoot, emu, fish, sugar bag etc. Some paintings record the totem that is made for the ceremony and the paraphernalia that is used, i.e., 'Dilly bag'"