Gumatj c. 1935 – 2005

Nancy Gaymala Yunupiŋu was born around 1935, the eldest daughter of artist and leader Muŋgurrawuy Yunupiŋu (c. 1907 – 1979). She became maḻamarr (eldest child) after her brother was killed by a shark on the Wessel Islands. A renowned Dhuwalandja language speaker, she belonged to the Gumatj clan and the Yirritja moiety, and her Country was Biranybirany on Caledon Bay, associated with the Ancestral fire. Gaymala learnt Gumatj designs and stories from her father, Muŋgurrawuy, and she began to paint on bark as well as canvas and canvas board in the 1980s. Nancy Gaymala Yunupiŋu held her first solo exhibition at the Australian Girls Own Gallery (aGOG) in Canberra in 1992, followed by another at aGOG in 1995. She died in 2005.

Gumatj 1945–2012

Gulumbu Yunupiŋu (also known as Star Lady), daughter of major Gumatj artist Muŋgurrawuy Yunupiŋu, was the youngest sister of Galarrwuy and Mandawuy Yunupiŋu. She grew up at Yirrkala, attending school at the old mission house, before marrying Djapu artist Mutitjpuy Munuŋgurr and having four children. Gulumbu studied as a health worker through Miwatj Health and had great knowledge of bush medicine and plant uses. She was one of four who translated the Bible into Gumatj, a project spanning twenty-six years. Gulumbu worked closely with Galarrwuy at the Garma Festival, educating non-Indigenous people about Yolŋu life. As an artist, Gulumbu worked in a range of different mediums – weaving, jewellery and printmaking – before she began to focus on bark painting and sculpture. Her visionary paintings of stars first came to public attention in 2004, when she was awarded the First Prize at the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards with three ḻarrakitj (hollow poles).

Gumatj 1948–2012

Renowned as the Fire Lady, Barrupu Yunupiŋu is the daughter of Muŋgurrawuy Yunupiŋu and Buṉay Wanambi, and the full sister of Ms N Yunupiŋu. Her siblings also include Gulumbu and Australians of the Year Galarrwuy and Mandawuy Yunupiŋu. Barrupu trained and worked as a nurse for many years at the Yirrkala clinic/hospital, until its closure in 1975. Her closest sister is Ms N Yunupiŋu, with whom she worked as a print artist through the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala, from 1996. From 2008, Barrupu painted almost daily with her sister in the courtyard at Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka, the same place where she had worked as a nurse from 1960 to 1975.

Gumatj born c. 1945–2021

Ms N Yunupiŋu is the daughter of Muŋgurrawuy Yunupiŋu and Buṉay Wanambi, and the full sister of Barrupu Yunupiŋu. Her early life was spent with her father, Muŋgurrawuy, a renowned artist and father of two Australians of the Year (her brothers Galarrwuy and Mandawuy) and of Gulumbu. A widow, she was the wife of the late Djapu clan leader Djiriny Munuŋgurr, who died in 1977. Initially, Ms N Yunupiŋu worked primarily in the print medium, producing boldly coloured screenprints for over a decade before she started to paint on bark in 2007. Shortly after this, she won the Wandjuk Marika 3D Memorial Award at the 2008 National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. Since then, she has continued to paint at Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka. In 2020, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) presented the moment eternal: Ms N Yunupiŋu, a retrospective exhibition encompassing the breadth of her practice. Ms N Yunupiŋu passed away in October 2021. We offer our sincere condolences to her family and friends during this time.

Gumatj born 1945

Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu (also known as Eunice) is a senior Yolŋu Elder and emerging artist based in Yirrkala, in North-East Arnhem Land. She is the daughter of Gumatj patriarch and activist Muŋgurrawuy Yunupiŋu, the master of the diamond miny’tji (sacred design) that signifies gurtha (Ancestral fire). Djerrkŋu comes from an established family of artists: her sisters Gaymala, Gulumbu, Barrupu and Ms N Yunupiŋu are all at the forefront of contemporary art practice. Djerrkŋu came to painting quite late in life and has developed a unique style of using reclaimed print toners (ground polyester) and natural earth pigments in her work. In 2021 she became the first artist working on bark to be awarded finalist in the Archibald Prize.

Maḏarrpa born c. 1939

Noŋgirrŋa Marawili is a highly regarded senior artist and Maḏarrpa woman widely acknowledged both in her community and beyond for her bark paintings and ḻarrakitj. Noŋgirrŋa was born at Darrpirra, north of Cape Shield in North-East Arnhem Land, in around 1939. She is the daughter of the Maḏarrpa leader Mundukul (Lightning Snake) and Gålpu woman Buḻuŋguwuy. Noŋgirrŋa was the wife of the late Djapu leader and acclaimed artist Djutjadjutja Munuŋgurr, who won the Bark Painting Award at the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in 1997 for a painting with which she ably assisted. Noŋgirrŋa’s two daughters, Marrnyula and Rerrkirrwanga Munuŋgurr, are also established artists. Her work includes carvings, bark paintings, ḻarrakitj and editioned prints. Noŋgirrŋa again won the Bark Painting Award at the 2015 and 2019 National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, and won the Roberts Family Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Prize as part of the Wynne Prize in 2019.

Djapu born 1968

Dhambit Munuŋgurr is an artist and the daughter of two winners of the First Prize in the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards: Mutitjpuy Munuŋgurr and Gulumbu Yunupiŋu. She works as an independent artist, uniquely painting with acrylic paint, and in particular with the colour blue. In 2018, working at Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, Munuŋgurr produced a large bark that she entered in the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. Following the success of that work, she fell in love with the colour blue, which she has now settled on as the dominant palette for her large works. In 2020, Dhambit had a major installation at NGV Triennial made up of fifteen bark paintings and nine ḻarrakitj, titled Can we all have a happy life?, 2019–20. She won the Bark Painting Award in the 2021 National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.

Dhuḏi-Djapu 1947–2021

A senior artist of the Dhuḏi-Djapu clan from Dhuruputjpi, in East Arnhem Land, Mulkuṉ Wirrpanda was a classificatory daughter of the late Dhäkiyarr Wirrpanda and mother (by kinship) to senior artist and clan leader Djambawa Marawili. She painted on bark, ḻarrakitj (memorial poles) and yiḏaki (a Yolŋu musical instrument), and was a talented carver, weaver and printmaker. From 2012 she began to explore lesser-known edible plant species, the nutritious food that she grew up on, which she feared were being forgotten by younger generations. Mulkuṉ Wirrpanda won the Works on Paper Award in the 2021 National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.

Maŋgalili born 1952

Naminapu Maymuru-White was born in 1952 and is a member of the Maŋgalili clan. Naminapu lives and works in Yirrkala, in North-East Arnhem Land. She has dedicated her artistic career to studies of Milŋiyawuy, which in English refers to the Milky Way, or river of stars. Naminapu is an extremely versatile artist with skills in the areas of painting, carving, screenprinting, weaving, linocuts and batik work. As a child she used to sit for hours, patiently watching her father paint. At about the age of twelve, she began to learn herself, and was fortunate in being taught by her father’s brother, Narritjin Maymuru, as well as by her father, Nånyin Maymuru. Both men were extremely able and well-known artists, whose works hang in many Australian and overseas museums. Naminapu Maymuru-White is a two-time winner in the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (1996 Work on Paper Award; 2005 Wandjuk Marika 3D Memorial Award).

Dhalwaŋu born 1954

Dhalwaŋu artist Malaluba Gumana was born in 1954, the daughter of Gumuk Gumana and Marratj Gurruwiwi. She grew up in Numbulwar, in South-East Arnhem Land, and moved to Yirrkala as a young mother. During the 1970s, Malaluba moved with her family to Gängan, the Dhalwaŋu homeland centre, where she has lived ever since. Malaluba was extremely skilled with the marwat, a brush made of human hair. She mainly painted her mother’s Gålpu clan designs. Since 2006, she has experimented with colour mixing and produced larger and more complex works to express her fluid and spontaneous hand. In 2013, Malaluba won the Bark Painting Award at the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.

Rirratjiŋu born c. 1946

Dhuwarrwarr Marika was born in about 1946, the second daughter of great artist and ceremonial leader Mawalan Marika (c. 1908 – 1967). A Dhaŋu language speaker, Dhuwarrwarr belongs to the Rirratjiŋu clan of the Dhuwa moiety and her Country is Yalaŋbara. She is the sister of Wandjuk (c. 1927 – 1987), Bayngul (c. 1926 – 2004) and Banduk (1954–2021). Dhuwarrwarr grew up at Yirrkala mission, where she was taught English but was instructed in ritual matters and painting, the visible manifestation of clan law, by her father, Mawalan, who authorised her to become the first woman to paint sacred designs on bark.