21
Life and death
Gulumbu Yunupingu (1945–2012) was from an
eastern Arnhem Land family distinguished in cultural
and political life. Her later works were inspired by
memories of dhawu (stories) told by her father while he
painted — especially about the seven sisters travelling
westward in their djulpan (canoe), who changed into
bright stars associated with the seasons and times of
plentiful food; they can be seen clearly in the night sky
beneath the Milky Way.
Her memorial pole,
Garak, The Universe (Larrakitj)
2004 glistens with gan’yu (stars). She has painted a
myriad of small star forms, which appear suspended in
space and evoke the enormity and magic of an endless
universe. They tell of the wonders of the shared night
sky and the universality of all peoples under one
great canopy.
Though death and life remain unknowable mysteries,
Yunupingu’s vision in her life and her creations, as with
so many artists from Arnhem Land, was to focus on
the connections between people, between everything
that exists, what can be imagined and all that cannot.
Endnote
1 A yingapungapu was installed by leading Yirrkala artist and statesman
Djambawa Marawili and his family at the Seattle Art Museum on 30 May
2012 to open the exhibition ‘Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art from
the Kaplan and Levi Collection’; however, a yingapungapu sculpture has not
been seen by the public in an Australian art institution to date.
Diane Moon
is Curator, Indigenous Fibre Art,
Queensland Art Gallery I Gallery of Modern Art.
