Johnny Dayngangan Sold at Auction Prices

JOHNNY DAYNGANGAN, UNTITLED (DJUNKGAO CEREMONY), C.1958

JOHNNY DAYNGANGAN c.1892-1959 UNTITLED (DJUNKGAO CEREMONY), c.1958 ochre on bark 179 x 63 cm Bennett- Campbell Australian Aboriginal Trust label verso PROVENANCE Collected by Dorothy Bennett of the Bennett-Campbell Australian Aboriginal Trust, NT Cat No. 507 Private Collection, NSW Original paperwork adhered to back of artwork This bark depicts the Djunkgao ceremony, which recounts a time when water was the only element in existence. Two sisters arrived in Caledon Bay by canoe, marking their journey with yam sticks planted in the ground where they stopped. As they walked, they named everything in their path, bestowing totemic identities on the shells they encountered. These shells still carry the names the sisters assigned. Their journey also involved catching fish and turtles, initially planning to turn all the water into land. They envisioned a dry landscape where fish and turtles would reside, but the trochus shell intervened, convincing the sea creatures to return to the ocean and for shells to remain in-between land and sea. In the corroboree that reenacts these events, men perform the various roles, while women are forbidden from participating. At one point in the ceremony, the men enter the women’s camp and collect the food they had gathered. The myth recounts that, during the sisters' time, they possessed all the totems and concealed them in a secret place. However, men eventually stole the totems, and since then, women have been excluded from sacred ceremonies and barred from witnessing the totems. This piece is a fine example of an Australian Aboriginal artwork.