Wanapati Yunupiŋu

Wanapati Yunupiŋu was born in 1989 and is a Yolŋu artist of the Gumatj clan. He lives in Biranybirany, a remote homeland in North East Arnhem Land, where there is no power or shops, and community life follows ceremonial and seasonal cycles. Immersed from childhood in Yolŋu law, ceremony, and artistic traditions, he initially worked with bark painting, didjeridu, and hollow logs. Since 2019, he has etched sacred Gumatj clan designs of gurtha (fire) onto discarded road signs and metal, and thus bringing together ancestral narratives, land and culture, and industrial materials to expand the vocabulary of contemporary Yolŋu art.