Bark Ladies: Eleven artists from Yirrkala celebrates the work of eleven innovative Yolŋu women artists. Yirrkala is an Aboriginal community in North-East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Yolŋu means ‘person’ in Yolŋu Matha (the language of Yolŋu people).

The artists in this exhibition have all made work out of an Aboriginal Community art centre called the Buku-Larrngay Mulka Centre (Buku). Buku is an important hub and meeting place for the Yirrkala community and artists. Buku-Larrngay Mulka is a Yolŋu Matha phrase; Buku-Larrŋgay translates to mean ‘the feeling on your face as it is struck by the first rays of the sun’, and Mulka means ‘a sacred but public ceremony’.

The exhibition features artworks from the NGV collection including both bark paintings and sculptural memorial poles, known as larrakitj. Each of the artists have created works that expand on and challenge traditional styles of art-making:

• Nancy Gaymala, Gulumbu, Barrupu, Ms N. Yunupiŋu and Eunice Djerrnkngu Yunupiŋu, are five Yunupiŋu sisters who create bold and rhythmic works which tell Yolŋu stories of the universe, fire and creation as well as personal stories.
• Dhuwarrwarr Marika is regarded as the first Yolŋu woman to paint on bark in her own right.
• Dhambit Munungurr and Nonggirrnga Marawili both use new materials to create striking works in unexpected colour pigments.
• Naminapu Maymuru-White has designed a large floor-based work called Ringimi gapu, 2021,¹ which extends across Federation Court. She also has six larrakitj and two paintings included in the exhibition.

Discuss

• What types of artworks do you expect to see in an exhibition called Bark Ladies: Eleven artists from Yirrkala?
• What is the meaning of ‘bold’ and ‘rhythmic’? What other words can you find that describe the artworks in this exhibition?
• Why do you think these artists have been selected to have their work displayed together?
• To learn more about the Buku centre and Yirrkala, you can visit the Buku centre website https://yirrkala.com/

The exhibition features many works painted on single sheets of bark. Traditionally, bark was used by Yolŋu men to create objects for ceremonies and many sacred designs are traditionally reserved for men. Women Yolŋu artists only started to paint on bark for their art-making relatively recently.

To create the works, sheets of bark must first be gathered and prepared. The sheets are cut from stringybark trees during the wet season, when the bark is soft and flexible. They are then flattened with stones and dried, over a fire or in the sun, to create a surface the artist can work with. The surface of the bark sheets is sometimes smoothed with a knife or sanded with a piece of sharkskin.

Traditionally, most Yolŋu artists use earth pigments such as ochre, to paint on bark. Ochres are naturally occurring pigments found in clay, soil or rocks. They come in colours varying from yellow, brown, green to red. Once collected, ochres are ground and prepared. This process takes time and requires special knowledge. Sometimes, ochres are heated to create different colours. Artists mix the prepared ochre with natural binder, such as tree resin, then it’s ready to paint on to the bark.

Discuss

• Bark paintings are made with bark and earth pigments. What materials do you normally use to make art? What other materials can artists use? You can explore the NGV’s Collection online for inspiration.
• Mulkun Wirrpanda’s, Ŋäḏi ga Guṉdirr, 2020 is painted with ochres and other natural earth pigments. Look carefully at the work. What colours can you see? How are they different from the colours usually found in paint or crayon sets that can be bought in shops?
• Yolŋu artists use the bark from stringybark trees for their art-making. Look around your local parks and try to touch and feel the bark of different trees. Describe the different textures of the bark. Find out the names for the different types of trees in your area.

Larrakitj are memorial poles made from logs of stringybark trees that have been hollowed out by termites. The logs are stripped of bark and painted with designs and symbols.

Historically, larrakitj were used by the Yolŋu people as memorials to people who had passed away. An important part of funeral rituals, larrakitj were used as containers for the bones and remains of the deceased. They would be placed in the bush to mark the end of the ceremonial rites and left to the elements. Over time, they would eventually decompose and return to the earth.

Today, Yolŋu artists continue this important cultural tradition by making larrakitj for everyone to enjoy as art. These contemporary versions do not hold human remains. They are painted or carved with designs about Yolŋu culture and social systems, so they can also be used for passing down cultural knowledge. Yolŋu artists learn important lessons about the connection between people and Country from the larrakitj.

Discuss

• Larrakitj were traditionally used for important cultural ceremonies. Have you ever been to a special family or community ceremony, like a wedding? Were there any special objects used?
• Take a close look at Dhambit Munuŋgurr’s Garma, 2020 and Noŋgirrŋa Marawili’s Djapu, 2020. What patterns and designs can you see? Describe all the different elements on each of the larrakitj.
• How is Garma’s design different from Djapu?
• Both Marawili and Munuŋgurr used interesting colours for Djapu and Garma. Describe the colours used. What ideas or feelings do the colours suggest for you?

Yolŋu clans use totems or symbols to represent their spiritual relationship to land and sea. The artists in Bark Ladies: Eleven artist from Yirrkala have depicted their stories of land and sea in their art through different icons, including mermaids, crocodiles, starlit rivers and ancestral fires.

Bäru story, 1990, by Nancy Gaymala Yunupiŋu is the earliest bark painting by a woman in the NGV Collection. It represents the Ancestral being Bäru – the crocodile. Dhambit Munuŋgurr has also depicted Bäru the crocodile in her more recent work Bäru, 2019, using bright shades of blue.

For Yolŋu people, Bäru is a profoundly important Ancestral being: according to Ancestral stories, fire was brought to the Gumatj people from the Ancestral crocodile man. He threw a log into the fire, resulting in the fire spreading through the bush and across ceremonial grounds, transforming animals into sacred totems. The Ancestral crocodile man was so badly burnt that he slid into the sea, where he transformed into a crocodile and stayed there forever.

Because of this story, Bäru is closely associated with fire. Gumatj artists represent fire using a diamond pattern; sacred designs or patterns like these are called miny’tji.

Discuss

• Look closely at the two artworks depicting Bäru. Describe the differences and similarities between them.
• Bäru is associated with fire. Look again at patterns used on Yunupiŋu’s Bäru story, then carefully observe her work Untitled (Ancestral fire), 2010. What similarities can you see? What might be the reason behind the similarities?
• In her work Bäru, Dhambit Munungurr has used shades of bright blue rather than the earth tones used by Yunupiŋu. How does her use of the colour blue change the way we respond to the work? Why might she have chosen the colour blue to depict this story?
• Yolŋu people are deeply connected to the land and sea. They do not simply own or take care of the land and sea. Instead, Yolŋu people often describe this relationship as that they are from, or that they are, land and sea.² What do you think they mean by this?
• The story of Bäru has been passed down by Yolŋu people for generations. Do you know any very old stories from your own culture that have been passed down for generations? How do you know them?

For Yolŋu people, the land, sea and stars are all interconnected and considered part of the greater universe, Garak.

Gulumbu Yunupiŋu loved to paint the night sky so much that she became known as ‘Star Lady’ after she passed away. As a child, she would watch and listen as her father, Mungurraway Yunupiŋu, painted and told stories about the beginning of the Yolŋu universe.³ Her work Garak, the Universe, 2008, depicts all the stars in the sky. Looking closely, we can see that the bark is covered with clusters of crosses and dots with very few spaces between. Each cross shows a star and all the things we can see in the night sky. The dots behind and in between the crosses represent everything that is unseen, something Yolŋu people refer to as ‘the second stars’.

In Milniyawuy (River of Stars), 2020, Naminapu Maymuru-White paints the stars of the Milky Way, or Milniyawuy. Milinyawuy is also the name of a river that was sung into being by the same powerful ancestors who created the Milky Way. For Maymaru-White, the Milky Way is a literal and spiritual river. When a Maŋgalili⁴ person passes away, their soul follows this river and goes up into the sky. This work could represent the stars in the night sky, the reflection of the milky way on the river, or souls that have become stars.⁵

Discuss

Take a moment to look at Yunupiŋu’s Garak, the Universe.

• What colours, shapes and patterns do you see? How is this work like the universe? What else does it remind you of?
• Consider this quote by the Gulumbu Yunupiŋu. What do you think it means? Try putting it in your own words. How might it relate to her painting?:

We are just like the stars. All gathered close together … We are so many living together on the earth. The land, the sea and the sky are a continuum. Like one, with us.⁶

• If we consider all living things to be connected, how might this impact the way we treat our natural environment or other people?
• What do you think is meant by ‘the second stars’? What are some examples of things that cannot be seen by the human eye?
• Both of these paintings depict the night sky. What similarities and differences can you find between them?
• Have you ever looked up at the stars in the night sky? What does it make you feel or think about? Discuss the significance of stars or the sky in different cultures, what are some things that stars can represent?

Artists like Ms N. Yunupiŋu have moved away from traditional stories and designs to paint in their own way, telling stories of their life and expressing themselves in new ways.

In Wild apple orchard, 2008, Yunupiŋu has represented the place where she collected wild apples as a child. It is also the site of a terrifying experience where she was chased and gored by a buffalo.

Pink diptych, 2015 is an abstract work. Instead of telling a story or replicating miny’tji (sacred designs), Yunupiŋu works freely to create abstract fields of tone and line. The fine lines are made using a very thin human hair paint brush. These layers of lines and textures create subtle changes in tones from white, to pink and red.

Discuss

• First look at Wild apple orchard. What can you see? Imagine you are walking in this landscape, what would you hear, smell and touch?
• Now look at Pink diptych. How is it similar or different to Wild apple orchard?
• Imagine you are watching Yunupiŋu paint this work. How would you describe the way she paints? Do you imagine her working quickly or slowly? Is the work painted in a single layer or many layers?
• Describe the mood of this work. Is it calm or expressive? Loud or quiet? What do you see that makes you say that?

While it is customary for Yolŋu artists to paint Country using materials collected from Country, in more recent times some artists like Dhambit Munungurr and Nonggirrnga Marawili have begun working with new materials. Their artworks include vibrant and bold colour.

Dhambit Munungurr was left with a physical disability after a car accident. She couldn’t grind up ochre by hand anymore, so she was given permission by elders to paint using acrylic paints instead. She started experimenting with new and vibrant colours; for Munungurr, the colour blue represents the earth, sea and sky. Bees at Gäṉgän, 2019, tells a story about a nest of bees who had made their home in an ironwood tree at a place called Gäṉgän. In the corner of the painting, there’s also a black cockatoo or dhuwa natili.

Nonggirrnga Marawili paints natural phenomena linked to Country such as lightning, ocean sea spray smashing against rocks, huge tides, and cyclones. Baratjala, 2019, depicts Baratjala; an important place for the Madarrpa clan as it is where Mundukul the Lightning Snake lives beneath the sea.⁷ Marawili began using ink from disused print cartridges after finding a discarded print toner on Country. Her use of these found materials is new but also reflects traditional Yolŋu philosophy: ‘if you paint the land, you should use the land.’⁸

Discuss

• Look at Bees at Gäṉgän. What do you recognise? You might see the ironwood tree, some water, the bees with stingers, a nest, baby birds, a black cockatoo, two snakes.
• What do you notice about the way the different creatures are painted? It might be about their colour, shape, or size.
• How many different shades of blue can you identify? Munungurr has names for the different shades of blue such as ‘Australian sky blue’ and ‘midnight blue’.⁹ How could you describe the shades of blue?
• Look closely at Baratjala. What patterns, shapes and colours can you see? How might the patterns, shapes and colours suggest natural phenomena such as storms or water crashing on rocks?
• Consider the use of new materials in each of the works. How does the use of new materials add to the meaning of the work? How does the use of materials reflect the artists’ experiences and their way of viewing Country?

• Choose one or two of the artworks you have looked at. How do they reflect the importance of land and sea for Yolŋu people? How might an understanding of the importance of the natural world change the way we view and look after it?
• What are some ways that the artists in this exhibition have continued and challenged traditional ways of making art?
• How has your understanding of Indigenous art changed after viewing this exhibition? Complete the sentence ‘I used to think… now I think…’.
• How can you use art to tell your story? Think of a memory or story that is important to you and make an artwork using materials from the natural world or from around you to communicate this story.