Nyapanyapa Yunupingu
Untitled, 2016
Earth pigments on paper, 76cm x 57cm
Provenance: Roslyn Oxley9, Sydney.
Exhibited: Roslyn Oxley9, Sydney 2017.
4807Y, 2015
Ochre on paper
Provenance: Buku-Larrngay Mulka, Darwin.
Nyapanyapa Yunupingu is the daughter of the famous cultural leader Munggurrawuy Yunupingu and sister to Galarrwuy and Mandawuy, both Australians of the Year. Her husband was the Djapu clan leader, Djiriny Manunggur. While surrounded by many prominent artists, she paints only for herself, and to share her life stories instead of the traditional Dreaming narratives.
Artist Statement
My father Munggurrawuy Yunupingu taught me how to paint. I learnt from watching him. He was always working. He said to me, ‘When I am gone you will follow behind me and paint too. Show the people—paint and work’.
That is what he said, and that’s what I do. I love working. I miss it when the bark is too dry to harvest or I can’t find carving wood or make a print. It is the way I was brought up. If I cannot paint I have to go and get fish or oysters or yams. I cannot sit and do nothing.
Unlike traditional bark painting of Arnhem Land, Nyapanyapa does not segment components of the narrative into various compartments; rather, it is one story within one rectangular frame. Equally, the content of the bark painting is a portrayal of historical or contemporary events and activities, rather than an ancient Dreaming narrative (1).