Untitled

‘I work alone with whatever is available. Usually ochres on bark. I travel to the art centre at Yirrkala every day to draw and paint. I have to work each day because my father told me to paint. I am not happy unless I am painting or gathering food or going to ceremony or sitting down with my family. If there is no bark I can use other things which I find.’ Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu 2015

Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu comes from the esteemed artistic dynasty - the Yunupiŋu family of north-east Arnhem Land. Her father is the famed bark painter and sculptor Muŋgurrawuy Yunupiŋu. Her siblings Gulumbu Yunupiŋu, Barrupu Yunupiŋu and Mandawuy Yunupiŋu were all renowned artists in their own right. While her brother Galarrwuy Yunupiŋu is revered for his dedication to land rights.

Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu is perhaps the most influential artist working at Yirrkala today, who has distinguished herself by deliberately avoiding the clan stories and designs she has inherited to make works that examine aspects of the everyday and the process of creating art itself. For Yunupiŋu, the act of painting and rhythmically laying down line after line to build works of dynamic intensity is of paramount importance. Responding to the potential of her chosen materials, Yunupiŋu excels in a form of repetitious mark making to create compelling and mesmeric abstractions, as seen here in ‘Untitled’ 2016.