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Gulumbu Yunupingu

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Gulumbu Yunupingu
Born1943
Gunyangara, Northern Territory
Died(2012-05-09)9 May 2012
Gove, Northern Territory
NationalityAustralian
SpouseMutitjpuy Mununggur
Parents
AwardsNational Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (2004)

Gulumbu Yunupingu (1943 – 9 May 2012), after her death known as Djotarra or Ms Yunupingu, was an Australian Aboriginal artist and women's leader from the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Early life and family

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Born in Gunyangara, Northern Territory in 1943, Yunupingu was a member of the Gumatj clan and spoke the Gumatj language.[1]

As the eldest daughter[2] of artist and Gumatj leader Mungurrawuy Yunupingu, she was sister to Aboriginal leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu and singer Mandawuy Yunupingu (of Yothu Yindi).[3] Her sisters included artists Nancy Gaymala Yunupingu, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, and Eunice Djerrkngu Yunupingu (c.1945–2022),[4][5][6] and Barrupu Yunupingu (1948–2012[7]).[8] She married Yirrkala church panel artist, Mutitjpuy Mununggur with whom, she had 4 children.[9] Her daughter, Dhambit Mununggurr continued in her footsteps as an artist.[10] Her family life faced significant challenges, including the deaths of her only son and a daughter in 2007.[11]

Prior to rise to stardom as an artist, Yunupingu worked as a teacher's aid and a Bible translator into her first language, Gumatj. She was also known as a health worker and healer at her Dilthan Yolngunha healing centre, wherein she integrated Western medicine with Bush medicine.[12]

A prominent figure among women artists at Yirrkala, Gulumbu was one of the leaders who shifted their focus away from painting sacred clan designs in their work.[13]

Art career

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Gulumbu Yunupingu, also known as the Star Lady, was the first Yolngu woman to gain significant international acclaim for bark paintings.[14] She was taught by her father, Mungurrawuy Yunupingu, and gained inspiration from Yolngu ancestral stories told by him. However, she chose to depict small abstractions from those grand creational epics with a universal appeal - the Ganyu (stars) and Garak (universe) are major subjects of Gulumbu’s works. She developed her signature style of a dense network of crosses representing the stars, unified by fields of dots representing everything that isn't seen. Her paintings reflect on the shared contemporaneity across the world and the relationship between selves and the universe.[15] Additionally, she believed stars symbolize the importance of striving for harmony, explaining, “We can all look at the stars, whichever sky we're looking at."[16]

In 1999, together with her sister Gaymala and Dhuwarrwarr Marika, Gulumbu was engaged to paint a large film set for the film Yolngu Boy, based on the historic Yirrkala Church Panels.[3]

Yunupingu was a versatile artist, working in several mediums. During her early career she engaged in weaving, jewelry making, and printmaking.[14] It was not until she began painting in the early 2000s and won the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award in 2004 that her artistic endeavors garnered attention. She gained acclaim due to her remarkable abstract visuals and artistic innovation in the field of bark painting.[17]

In 2012, a painting on wood titled Garrurru (Sail), weighing a tonne and measuring seven by three metres, was installed at the Australian National University,[18] at the Hedley Bull Centre for World Politics.[19] The word garrurru is the Yolngu word for "sail", and derives from the word for sailcloth in the Makassarese language.[20] Yunupingu appeared in public at the launch for the last time, despite failing health.[21]

Untitled screenprint, 2012 was the last piece of artwork that Gulumbu created before her death. She described the piece, saying, "When a person is sick, or maybe dying, people gather around to sing and dance, laugh and cry to make that person happy. It is what we Yolngu do. Here are all the people trying to make that person feel better and these are all the tears they are crying."[16]

Exhibitions and collections

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Her art has been widely exhibited all around the world, and was the opening exhibit in the newly-restored $370 million Muse du quai Branly in Paris.[22] in 2006. She was one of eight Aboriginal artists whose art was incorporated into the design of the museum itself, creating a ceiling of stars composed of thousands of dots on the second floor of the building.[23] The curatorial team visited Gulumbu for the commission to hear her clan’s customary stories and gained approval to adapt her work into a design one hundred times larger than the original, embedded into the building fabric in Paris. At the official Sydney launch of the commission in 2005, she gave a speech to emphasize how important it was for her to share her art and culture with the world for future generations: "This is from my heart, to you, to share, for the whole world to understand my culture."[24] Her work remains part of the largest international commission of contemporary indigenous art from Australia.[9] She had her first solo show at the Alcaston Gallery in 2004. Her work has also been featured in the Basic Needs Pavilion at the Hannover World Expo in 2000, the Melbourne Art Fair and the Kerry Stokes Larrikitj Collection.[12]

Her work is also exhibited in the National Gallery of Australia, as well as other major exhibitions including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.[25][1]

In 2018 Yunupingu's work was included in the exhibition Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia at The Phillips Collection.[26]

Gulumbu's work is featured in Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala, an exhibition that opened at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth in September 2022 and continues to tour the United States. The exhibition specifically showcases her 2009 piece Ganyu (Stars). Describing the significance of her work, Gulumbu touched on themes of universality despite cultural differences, saying, “We are just like the stars. All gathered close together. We are really as one like the stars.”[25]

Awards

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Yunupingu has won many awards for her work. In 2004 she won the 'Big Telstra' prize at the 21st National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award for a piece entitled Garak, The Universe, which consists of three memorial poles, decorated in her own style, which combines traditional Yolngu designs with her own modern interpretation.[18][2][27]

Death

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Yunupingu suffered from terminal cancer, but she continued journeying to various artistic events, such as the MCA building in Sydney, where her works were displayed.[28] She died on 9 May 2012 at her home in Gunyangara (Ski Beach), after lapsing into a coma some time before. Her memorial service took place at Gunyangara and her funeral at Dhanaya.[16] Given her world-wide renown, her family gave consent to her name appearing in text, but asked that her name is not spoken, and no image of her shown. She can be referred to as Djotarra or Ms Yunupingu.[21][29][30]

References

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  1. ^ a b "National Gallery of Australia". National Gallery of Australia. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Father's 'wishing stars' inspires a winning work". The Age. 14 August 2004. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b Angel, Anita (3 February 2011). "(Nancy) Gaymala Yunupingu". Charles Darwin University. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  4. ^ Eccles, Jeremy (1 July 2022). "Mrs D Yunupingu 1945/2022". Aboriginal Art Directory. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  5. ^ "Ms. D. (Djerrkngu) Eunice Yunupingu (c.1945 - 2022)". Alcaston Gallery. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  6. ^ "Archibald Prize Archibald 2021 work: Me and my sisters by Eunice Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu". Art Gallery of NSW. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  7. ^ "Barrupu Yunupingu". Alcaston Gallery (in Polish). Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  8. ^ "Bark Ladies centres female Yolŋu artists". Art Guide Australia. 13 December 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  9. ^ a b "EBSCOhost Login". search.ebscohost.com. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  10. ^ "EBSCOhost Login". search.ebscohost.com. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  11. ^ Edgar, Patricia. “Powerful Indigenous Voice Helped Bridge Cultures.” Age, The (Melbourne), 28 May 2012, pp. 15-16.
  12. ^ a b "EBSCO Sign In". login.ebsco.com.
  13. ^ Wukun Wanambi, et al. Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala. Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia and DelMonico Books, 1 Sept. 2022, p. 344.
  14. ^ a b Myles, Russell-Cook (2021). Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala. Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria. ISBN 9781925432916.
  15. ^ Skerritt, Henry F.; Baum, Tina; Newcomb Art Museum; Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art; Nevada Museum of Art; Phillips Collection; University of British Columbia, eds. (2016). Marking the infinite: contemporary women artists from Aboriginal Australia: from the Debra and Dennis Scholl collection: Nonggirrnga Marawili, Wintjiya Napaltjarri, Yukultji Napangati, Angelina Pwerle, Carlene West, Regina Pilawuk Wilson, Lena Yarinkura, Gulumbu Yunupingu, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu. Reno, NV : Munich ; New York: Nevada Museum of Art ; DelMonico Books-Prestel. ISBN 978-3-7913-5591-7. OCLC 959611198.
  16. ^ a b c Eccles, Jeremy. “Gulumbu Yunupingu.” Art Monthly Australasia, no. 253, 1 Sep. 2012, p. 45.
  17. ^ Bassett, Sue; Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, eds. (2011). Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award 1984 - 2008: celebrating 25 years. Darwin NT: Charles Darwin University Press. ISBN 978-0-9806650-8-6.
  18. ^ a b Australian National University (19 March 2012). "Life-size Yunupingu artwork delivered by crane". Archived from the original on 15 September 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  19. ^ Streak, Diana (29 March 2012). "Artist's long journey to see her works on display". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  20. ^ "Artwork paints a picture of Australia's ancient links to Asia". ANU College of Asia & the Pacific. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  21. ^ a b Eccles, Jeremy (12 June 2012). "Artist saw the stars crying". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 July 2022. In recognition of her international importance the family have consented to her name appearing in text, but requested that no image be shown, and that her name not be uttered. Instead she can be referred to as Djotarra or Ms Yunupingu.
  22. ^ Button, James (20 June 2006). "Paris infused with indigenous spirit". The Age. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  23. ^ “Les Galaxies Secrètes De Gulumbu éclairent Le Quai Branly.” Le Monde, 7 Sep. 2006, pp. 22 - 23.
  24. ^ Croft, Brenda (2007). "Gulumbu Yunupingu". Culture Warriors: National Indigenous Art Triennial. National Gallery of Australia. pp. 185–89.
  25. ^ a b "Ganyu | Stars". Kluge-Ruhe: Madayin. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  26. ^ "Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia". The Phillips Collection. 2 June 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  27. ^ "Yunupingu, Gulumbu". OzArts. Archived from the original on 29 September 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  28. ^ "EBSCO Sign In". login.ebsco.com.
  29. ^ Eccles, Jeremy; Peers, Juliette (1 September 2014). "Gulumbu Yunupingu (1943-2012)". Artlink Magazine. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  30. ^ "Yolngu elder passes". NT News. News Ltd. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.

Further reading

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