Acclaimed for her extraordinary gift of mark-making and storytelling, Ms N. Yunupiŋu (1945-2021) was one of the most celebrated and influential Aboriginal Australian artists. Her art practice remains independent of bark painting traditions that she inherited from the Yirrkala region/Yolŋu people of Arnhem Land where she lived. Her figurative and abstract works unleash a unique set of personal narrative paintings revolving around her own experiences.
Nyapanyapa is in tune with the little things. The real. The actual. She sees clearly the insignificant. She dwells in a world of insignificance. She sustains herself from it. She is herself ‘insignificant’.
As a Yolngu artist who paints birrka’mirri, or anything paintings, rather than declaiming Yolngu Law through sacred design. As a tiny old woman who is basically deaf. As the little one with a quiet and gentle personality in a family of superhuman, loud overachievers. As the childless 13th wife of elder statesman Djiriny, who had 14 wives but only 11 children. As a Yolngu woman who doesn’t speak English in a world where all resources have slowly accreted to those that do, and who insist that all negotiations take place in that language.
This is the mark made by a being who exists in a dimension unpierced by the arrow of time. We respond to it because we too exist in that same dimension although our programming denies it. This is the reality of the little things that exist without calculation or cynicism. The little things that just are.
—Will Stubbs, 2021
Ms N. Yunupingu lived and worked in Yirrkala, near Nhulunbuy in north-east Arnhem Land, and was a Yolngu woman with a rich artistic genealogy, including musicians Mandawuy Yunupingu of Yothu Yindi and Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, and the Gumatj patriarch and artist Munggurrawuy Yunupingu. Yunupingu’s art practice remains independent of bark painting traditions of the Yirrkala region/ Yolngu people of Arnhem Land. Yunupingu’s work is valued for the spontaneity and texture of her draughtsmanship. Her figurative and abstract works unleash a unique set of personal narratives revolving around her own experiences. She also employed unconventional materials such as texta-pen on clear acetate sheet, recycled paper and board during the dry season when the supply of bark runs low. While the impression is recognisably Yunupingu, the finish and texture create a fascinating reconfiguration of her distinct visual language.
Yunupingu exhibited in Australia and overseas since 2007. Notable exhibitions include the moment eternal: Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, Museum of Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), Darwin, 2020; Australia: Antipodean Story, Padiglione D'Arte Contemporanea (PAC), Milan, 2019; and an installation of bark and larrakitj paintings titled Gäna (self) in the Encounters sector, curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor, at Art Basel Hong Kong in 2018. Yunupingu was a finalist in the 2017 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. In the same year she won the 2017 Telstra NATSIAA Bark Painting Award. In 2016, the artist was selected for the 20th Biennale of Sydney: The future is already here - its just not evenly distributed, curated by Stephanie Rosenthal. Yunupingu was also selected for the 18th Biennale of Sydney: all our relations in 2012 by curators Catherine de Zegher and Gerald McMaster. In 2008, she won the 25th National Aboriginal Art Award and was also selected for the prize in 2007 and 2009. Yunupingu’s paintings are held in major public collections in Australia, including National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; and Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
Installation view, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu: the moment eternal, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin (23 May – 25 October 2020)
Installation view, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, Encounters, Art Basel | Hong Kong (29 March – 31 March 2018)
Installation view, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (24 January – 19 February 2017)
Installation view, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, Lawarra Maypa, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (15 January – 14 February 2015)
Nyapanyapa Yunupingu Seven Sisters, 2016, 903-16, natural earth pigments on bark, 166 x 68 cm
Nyapanyapa Yunupingu untitled, 2018, 6248-18, natural earth pigments on bark, 229 x 109 cm
Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, untitled, 2015, 4861S, Bark painting, 180 x 90 cm
Nyapanyapa Yunupingu Ganyu, 2016, 2776-16, Painting on board, 167 x 122 cm
Nyapanyapa Yunupingu Trees White, 2011, 4078V, natural earth pigments on bark, 82 x 96 cm
Nyapanyapa Yunupingu Untitled, 2016, 2484-16, earth pigments on paper, 76 x 57 cm
Nyapanyapa Yunupingu Djorra (paper) 3, 2014; felt tip pens, white clay, acrylic paint on discarded print proofs; 228 x 224cm, 76 x 56cm (each)
Group Show, The First 40 Years
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2024
Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu Journey of the Stars
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2022
Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu The Little Things
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2021
Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu the moment eternal
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, 2020
Group Show, Workshop
University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, 2019
Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu Ganyu
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2019
Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu Encounters, Art Basel | Hong Kong
Art Basel Hong Kong, 2018
Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu Nyapanyapa Yunupingu
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2017
Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu Nyapanyapa Yunupingu
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2016
Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu Lawarra Maypa
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2015
Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu all our relations
18th Biennale of Sydney, 2012
Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu Birrka'
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2011
Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu In Sydney Again
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2010
Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu Once Upon a Time
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2008
NYAPANYAPA YUNUPINGU (c.1945-2021)
Gumatj Clan, Yirrkala, Australia
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Lyrics and Lines, Te Atamira, Queenstown, New Zealand
Sydney Contemporary, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Carriageworks, Sydney
The First 40 Years, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Miwatj Yolŋu – Sunrise People, Bundanon Art Museum, New South Wales, Australia
Journey of the Stars, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
The Little Things, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
the moment eternal: Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
Ganyu, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Lawarra Maypa, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
My Sister's Ceremony, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
New Work, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Birrka', Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Nyapanyapa - In Sydney Again, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Once Upon a Time, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Nyapanyapa - Bark Paintings, Prints and Carvings, Nomad Art Productions, Darwin
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting, Kluge-Ruhe, Virginia, USA
Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting, Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
경로를 재탐색합니다 UN/LEARNING AUSTRALIA, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul
Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Looking at Painting, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney
Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
20/20: Shared Visions, Artbank, Sydney
AUSTRALIA. ANTIPODEAN STORY, Padiglione D'Arte Contemporanea, Milan
Workshop, University of Queensland Art Museum, Queensland
Vis-ability: Artworks from the QUT Art Collection, QUT Art Museum, Queensland, Australia
Sydney Contemporary, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Encounters, Art Basel Hong Kong, curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor; 'Gana' (self) installation represented by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Balnhdhurr - A Lasting Impression, The University of Newcastle Gallery & Museum, Australia
Marking the Infinite, Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum Florida International University, Miami, Florida
Marking the Infinite, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona
Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
34th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin.- winner Bark Painting Award
Marking the Infinite, Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane, New Orleans, USA
Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial 2016, Sydney
Painting. More Painting, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Victoria
20th Biennale of Sydney:The future is already here- it's just not evenly distributed, Sydney
The World is Not a Foreign Land, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Victoria (touring to ANU Drill Hall Gallery, ACT, Cairns Regional Gallery, QLD, Tweed River Art Gallery, NSW, Flinders University Art Gallery, SA, Latrobe Regional Gallery, VIC until 2016)
Yirrkala Drawings, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
New 2013: Selected Recent Acquisitions, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane
Luminous World: Contemporary Art from the Wesfarmers Collection, Charles Darwin University Art Gallery, National Library of Australia, Canberra, Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide. Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne.
18th Biennale of Sydney: all our relations, curated by Catherine de Zegher and Gerald McMaster
Undisclosed: 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Crossing Cultures:Â The Owen and Wagner Collection of Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, New Hampshire
Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards, Art Gallery of Western Australia
26th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin
The Other Thing, a survey show, Charles Darwin University, Darwin
Etched in the Sun, Prints made by Indigenous Artists in Collaboration with Basil Hall & Printers, Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University
25th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin.- winner 3D prize
24th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin
PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Charles Darwin University, Darwin
Foundation Opale, Lens, Switzerland
Herbert Smith Freehills
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Wesfarmers
AWARDS
Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (winner)
Bark Painting Award, 34th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin (winner)
Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (finalist)
The Wandjuk Marika 3D Memorial Award, 25th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin (winner)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
John McDonald, Star shoots to new realms, Sydney Morning Herald, 20 February 2021
Louise Martin-Chew, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, Artist Profile, Issue 47, pg. 70-77
Emma-Kate Symons, Australia's indigenous women artists set to make a splash in major U.S, New York Times, 25 July 2017
Jeremy Eccles, Natsiaas 2017, News Aboriginal Art Directory, 11 August, 2017
William Spring, Marching Across North America, New Museum Tour Miami's Community News, Miami Community Newspaper, 24 January 2017
Katie Lavers, OUR land people stories, ArtsHub Australia, 19 June 2016
John D'Addario, Infinite Possibility, Australian Aboriginal women's art reaches across the miles, The Advocate, 19 October, 2016
John Saxby, Drawn from within, Look Magazine, Art Gallery Society of New South Wales, July 2016, pp.24-26
20th Biennale of Sydney, The Guide, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, pp.150-151
Una Rey, Buku Larrnggay-Mulka, Art Collector, Issue 72, Apr - Jun 2015
Elli Walsh, Selected Exhibition - Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, ARTAND Australia, January 27 2015
Liza Power, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu: Following the Pulse of the Continent, Vault Art, Issue 9, April 2015, 74-77
Elle Freak, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, Articulate, April 2015 pp.34-35
Nicholas Forrest, SHOWS THAT MATTER: Nyapanyapa Yunupingu at Roslyn Oxley9, Blouin ArtInfo, 29 January 2014
Catherine de Zegher and Gerald McMaster,18th Biennale of Sydney: All our relations, (Sydney: Biennale of Sydney, 2012) pp 202
Prue Gibson, Nyapanyapa, Art Monthly 251, July 2012, pp.5-7
John Mcdonald, Its All Relative, SMH, July 7 2012
Quentin Sprague, Thou shall not bear false witness against us no more': 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial, Art and Australia, 50:1, 2012, pp36-38
Nicholas Rothwell, Smoke and Flame, The Weekend Australian: Review, 24-25 November, 2012, pp.6-7
Timothy Morrell, Painting with Light, Australian Art Collector No 58 (October-December 2011) pp136-143
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