Danda means stick in Devanāgarī script, originating in the Indian subcontinent. It is unclear if Akolo had a connection to this language and why he chose to depict this. The figure, his back to the viewer, seems to hold a stick and a snake. However, the snake’s tail sits on a thick, sculptural base and the figure holds the snake just under the head, as though clutching its neck. This creates an unsettling image, combined with the dark colouring. For Akolo the focus of the work was form rather than the content, his works can have an ambiguous subject matter with very little narrative. In this piece Akolo has simplified the colours to red and small elements of blue, he uses contrasting black and white and brushwork to create definition. He uses white paint with a drip effect on the body of the figure, using the dark background to define the figure.