Alcheringa Gallery
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Victoria, BC, Canada
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Minyapaga Ga Dhanggatjiya (dyptych 2)
Banduk Marika
(Language Group, Dhangu, Yolgnu)
Yirrkala
Australia
1999
Linoprint on Arches edition 24
77cm x 74cm unframed
(30.3" x 29.1")
with custom frame $1,825.00(pair)
CAT# BM004
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'Minyapa and Dhanggatjiya were the sons of Mururruma who we refer to as the Grandfather of our family. Mututtuma was killed in a ritual spearing by the family of his young wife, who, Mururruma had killed because she constantly complained about being separated from her own family.
After killing Mururruma on the mainland, the warriors of the young wife’s family pursued his sons Minyapa and Dhanggatjiya across the sea to Dhambaliya (Bremer Island) but were defeated. For their stealth and courage in battle Minyapa and Dhanggatjiya became renowned Wangarr (spirit forms living in times past) to the Rirritjingu and Djambarrpuyngu people.
It was between the mainland and the island that Minyapa and Dhanggatjiya hunted turtles after their escape. To the end of their long lives they placed the shells of the turtles that they caught in rows on the beach of Dhambaliya between Romp and Rowak (a distance of about two kilometres). From that place the cooked meat was distributed to their families.
My father Mawalan during his life relived Wangarr law by assiduously following its customs. He too was a great turtle hunter, going out in pursuit of them in his canoe (Galnayalma) which he had fashioned by hand from a giant melaleuca tree. In his bark painting of Minyapa and Dhanggatjiya done in the 1950’s Mawalan showed them hunting turtle. As he painted, my father would retell the stories relating to Minyapa and Dhanggatjiya from the Wangarr to those gathered around him.
I have chosen this subject and followed very closely Malawi’s composition in the hope that this important story, which linked my people to place in the past, will continue in future to maintain this relationship.'
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