wayilkpa-maymuru
Homeland: Djarrakpi
Clan: Maŋgalili
Moiety: Yirritja
Wayilkpa is descendant of a family of important artists. Her cousin is Naminapu Maymuru White and her father is Banapana, Narritjin Maymuru’s second son. In the mid 1970’s Banapana helped his father establish an outstation on Mangalili land at Djarrakpi. Like his brothers and sisters, he was urged to watch his father painting after school and, taught by this great artist, developed into a fine artist himself. In 1978 he and his father spent three months as Visiting Artists at the Australian National University, Canberra.
Narritjin Maymuru’s life encompassed some of the major events of Australian and Northern Territory history. He was a great intellectual and ceremonial leader. Within his community he was often called on to assume the role of mediator, bringing disputants together. Above all he was an artist with a passion for making things.
Narritjin’s earliest surviving paintings and carvings were completed for the anthropologists Ronald and Catherine Berndt in 1946, and in 1948 and 1952 he produced a number of works for Charles Mountford (who led the American– Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land in 1948). By the early 1960s he had become one of the most prolific and renowned Yolngu artists. Howard Morphy, AGNSW website, abridged
Banapana was able to achieve a profile as an artist in his own right before he died at the young age of 39. Narritjin’s family was blighted by the death of many of his children in a short time and his own passing shortly before Banapana. Although surviving members of the family carried in the legacy it was not until Wayilkpa was in her forties that she began to paint seriously. Inspired by her artistic family Wayilkpa began foucsing on her own practice in 2018. Her works depicting the epic narratives related to her Maŋgalili Clan group and carefully painted with an extreme eye for detail and with the finest line work she continued to develop her own unique style during 2024 by immersing the narrative in a tapestry of stars. Her work Death of the Founding Fathers was selected for the 41st National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.
Wayilkpa is married to a senior Rirratjiŋu songman. The Rirratjiŋu are the landowners for Yirrkala.
Inspired by her artistic family Wayilkpa began foucsing on her own practice in 2018. Her works depicting the epic narratives related to her Maŋgalili Clan group and carefully painted with an extreme eye for detail and with the finest line work she continued to develop her own unique style during 2024 by immersing the narrative in a tapestry of stars. Her work Death of the Founding Fathers was selected for the 41st National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.
Buku Larrŋgay Mulka selected Wayilkpa to be
