Untitled (4174N), 2015, Barrupu Yunupingu
Bark painting
Provenance: Buku-Larrangay Mulka, NT.
Barrupu Yunupingu was a member of an acclaimed artistic family, including her father Munggurrawuy Yunupingu and siblings, Australians of the Year, Galarrwuy and Mandawuy, and Gulumbu Yunupingu, first prize winner of the prestigious Telstra Award. Since 2008, Barrupu had been ‘working’ at her painting at the art centre, the same place she worked as a nurse in the 60’s and 70’s. Her work on bark and poles evolved year by year, the first year was noted for her use of bold yellow and red verticals, the second for it’s horizontal cross current, then becoming darker in colour. The dynamic of evolution has been unexplained but offers a signature to her career (1).