Sullivan+Strumpf is proud to present Marwat, an exhibition of works by Ms D Yunupiŋu.

We are devastated to share news of the sudden loss of Ms D Yunupiŋu who was a loving, caring, and generous soul to everyone in her life. Daughter of Muŋgurrawuy and sister to Gulumbu, Nyapanyapa, Barrupu, Djerrkŋu and many other distinguished siblings including her two brothers, who both received the award of Australian of the Year. This family’s impact on Australian art, music and politics cannot be ignored. Despite losing her husband, the famed yiḏaki master, Mr D Gurruwiwi, she continued to work tirelessly supporting her beloved family. Ms D Yunupiŋu’s family have given their permission for her final body of work to be exhibited posthumously. The exhibition text, penned by Sally Brand, was written in late 2024, prior to her passing.

This work is part of a new series that Yunupiŋu initiated in early 2024. It references the threads of the material known as galiku, djårritjarri or manydjarrka. This is the cloth which the Makassans would bring and share with the Yolŋu in return for their labour and access to trepang. As per the songs and often practiced dances relating to this material, a part of the story is the fraying under impact from the winds. This reveals the nature of the material to be similar to that of Yolŋu cosmology made up of many threads like the family connections that embody gurruṯu. The lines are made with the fine lines of the marwat or line brush made from a few strands of straight hair usually from a young girl. This is a distinctive Yolŋu painting apparatus and style which is manifest here in its most reductive form.

"Galiku is also a material used for dancing. Yirritja people, men, women, children, wear it during Garma and other times for funerals, or the kids dancing at school. It's special. We Gumatj identify ourselves with yellow fabric. Inside the Galiku is cotton and if you tear it off you see the threads. Galiku is the material that makes the flags and the sails of the praus. Our dance and song celebrates the North wind which brings those boats carrying our family back to us. It sings the wind which snatches at the flags makes them climb and fly and then frays them and finally whips them away as it becomes the cyclone."

The material relates to the seafaring Makassan family members whose centuries old visits and settlements defined the economy and society of Yolŋu. A translation of Dr. G. Yunupiŋu’s song Galiku based on the Gumatj manikay (sacred song) is as follows below.