MELBOURNE.- A new four-part video series produced by the National Gallery of Victoria will celebrate some of the extraordinary artists working out of the Yolŋu owned and operated art centre, Buku Larrngay Mulka (Buku), situated in North East Arnhem Land. The series will run alongside the summer exhibition Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala, and will explore Yolŋu art, culture and tradition and share the voices of living artists including Dhuwarrwarr Marika, Naminapu Maymuru-White, Djerrkngu Yunupiŋu, Noŋgirrŋa Marawili and Dhambit Munuŋgurr.

EPISODE ONE: In the first episode of the series, viewers will hear from artists Naminapu Maymuru-White and Dhambit Munuŋgurr who talk about learning to paint from their family members and their passion to continue to paint today. The episode also features Yolŋu rapper, dancer and 2019 Young Australian of the Year Danzal Baker OAM aka Baker Boy, who grew up in the remote communities of Milingimbi and Maningrida in North-East Arnhem Land and has fused Yolŋu Matha, the language of Yolŋu people, with English in his music and rapping. Yolŋu actress and model Magnolia Maymuru, who grew up in Yirrkala also shares her deep connection to Yolŋu culture and tradition, and the importance of being raised by the strong Yolŋu women in Yirrkala.

EPISODE TWO: The series goes on to explore the ground-breaking way that Yolŋu women have taken to bark painting, an artform traditionally practised by Yolŋu men. Before the 1980s no Yolŋu women painted sacred themes on bark or larrakitj in their own right; however, in recent decades women artists have taken to these media, becoming renowned both nationally and internationally for daring and inventive works that challenge tradition. In this episode senior artist and Rirratjiŋu Elder Dhuwarrwarr Marika, the first Yolŋu woman at Buku to paint sacred designs on bark shares her story about receiving permission from her community to paint, which has paved the way for other Yolŋu women and artists at Buku to take up the art form. Naminapu Maymuru-White also shares the story of her works which depict Milŋiyawuy (the Milky Way), also known as the River of Stars, which she creates with the labour-intensive painting method of skewer stick and Marwat (brush made of fine hairs) resulting in intricate and instantly recognisable works. Viewers will also see the large-scale floor-based installation of Maymuru-White’s work Riŋgitjmi gapu, 2021 currently on display at the Gallery in Federation Court.

EPISODE THREE: In this episode viewers will discover how the eleven women included in the exhibition have pushed the boundaries of what Yolŋu art is, and we see this especially in the contemporary interpretations by Noŋgirrŋa Marawili and Dhambit Munuŋgurr. These artists have taken to new media, created their own distinct visual languages and pioneered the use of synthetic pigments in Yolŋu art.

Marawili’s striking pink works feature an arresting array of fuchsia and magenta tones produced with recycled printer cartridges balanced against textured earth pigments while Munuŋgurr’s body of work is renowned for its beguiling use of synthetic paint and the colour blue.




Munuŋgurr is regarded as the first Yolŋu artist to use the colour blue in her work, after she was granted special permission to use acrylic paint following a car accident which left her with limited mobility. Signalling a daring departure in both technique and colour, both Marawili and Munuŋgurr represent a new direction in contemporary Yolŋu painting.

EPISODE FOUR: Coinciding with Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala, NGV Kids presents an all-ages exhibition, The Gecko and the Mermaid: Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu and her sister, that celebrates the work of two pioneering artists and sisters, Ms N Yunupingu and Djerrkŋu Yunupingu. In this episode, we hear from Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu who shares the story of her conception, where her unborn spirit visited her father in the form of a mermaid, and how her father tried to spear the mermaid, believing the spirit to be a fish. He then fell asleep and upon waking, Yunupiŋu’s mother confirmed with her husband that she was with child, thus bringing their daughter into the world.

The interactive kids exhibition is inspired by three recently acquired vivid and technicolour bark paintings by Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu titled I am a Mermaid, New Generation and My Wedding on display in the Bark Ladies exhibition. A floor-to-ceiling installation of seventeen colourful screenprints, linocuts and lithographs by Ms N Yunupiŋu depicting geckos, turtles and lizards, have also informed and inspired the interactive spaces in the exhibition.

In this episode, we also hear from award-winning Yolŋu artist, author and filmmaker Siena Mayutu Wurmarri Stubbs, who is the granddaughter of these Yunupiŋu sisters. Stubbs has collaborated with NGV on the new NGV kids’ publication 123 Turtles and Geckos, which takes young readers on a counting adventure across Country with Stubbs and her grandmother, Ms N Yunupiŋu. Stubbs’ voice can also be heard in animations throughout the kid’s exhibition teaching children to pronounce words in the Yolŋu Matha language.

Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV said: ‘We are delighted to share the rich and diverse stories coming out of North East Arnhem Land in this video series. It highlights the sophistication, extraordinary creativity and innovation that is at the heart of all Yolŋu women’s art, and it is important to the NGV to share these stories and voices with a broader audience.’

Sarah Rovis, Managing Director, MIMCO, said: ‘MIMCO is delighted to continue our longstanding partnership with the NGV, by supporting the upcoming Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala exhibition. This exhibition is like no other, celebrating the diversity and depth of Indigenous Australian culture, specifically highlighting these tremendously talented Yolŋu women. As an Australian Brand, we wholeheartedly believe we have an important role to play in the storytelling of our rich and diverse heritage. We are grateful to be able to showcase, not only these breathtaking works on bark, but also the journeys and stories of the Yolŋu women themselves.’