David Malangi (1927 – 19 June 1999), also known as David Malangi Daymirringu, nicknamed Dollar Dave, was an Indigenous Australian Yolngu artist from the Northern Territory. He was one of the most well-known bark painters from Arnhem Land and a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art. He became known for his work being printed without his permission on the Australian one-dollar note, which led to a copyright dispute.

Biography

David Malangi was born in 1927 at Mulanga, on the east bank of the Glyde River in Central Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, where he received initiation into Manyarrngu culture during his early years spent in the area.^[1]

He died on 19 June 1999 at Yathalamarra, also Central Arnhem Land.^[1]

Career

Malangi started taking painting seriously after World War II.^[1] He was a bark painter. He painted on clear, red ochre or black backgrounds, using much broader and bolder brushstrokes than other Arnhem Land bark painters. His work includes depictions of the sea eagle, crow, snake, and goanna.^{[citation needed]}

He painted at Bula'Bula Arts in Ramingining.^[2]

Australian one-dollar note

The reproduction of one of his designs, depicting the mortuary feast of the ancestral hunter Gurrmirringu, appeared on the reverse of the Australian one-dollar note in 1966.^[3] This was done originally without his knowledge. It was acknowledged in 1967 with the release of the banknote, and he was later financially compensated after intervention by the Governor of the Reserve Bank, H. C. Coombs, as well as receiving a specially struck medal.^[4]

The payment by the Reserve Bank to Malangi began issues of Aboriginal copyright in Australia.^[4][2]

Exhibitions

Malangi represented Australia at the São Paulo Art Biennial in 1983. He was one of the first Aboriginal artists whose work was featured in the Biennale of Sydney in 1979. In 1983 his work was exhibited at the Australian Perspecta at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.^[1]

In 1988, for the Bicentenary of Australia, he contributed ten of 200 hollow log coffins for the Aboriginal Memorial at the National Gallery of Australia.^[1] He travelled to New York City in 1988 as part of the Dreamings exhibition of Aboriginal art.

In July 2004 an exhibition opened of David Malangi's work at the National Gallery of Australia called No Ordinary Place.^[5]

Collections

• National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, U.S.
• Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery, Broken Hill, New South Wales
• Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney