Gulumbu Yunupi\u

Biography / Bibliography / Collections / Awards

Biography

Gulumbu, the youngest  sister of Galarrwuy (former Northern Land Council Chair and Australian of the Year) and Mandawuy Yunupi\u (lead singer of Yothu Yindi and former Australian of the Year), lived as a child at Yirrkala and went to school in the old Mission house.  She married Yirrkala Church Panel artist Mutitjpuy Munu\gurr and had four children, including Milkay\u Munugurr, original yidaki (didjeridu) player for the band Yothu Yindi. Her father is the senior  Gumatj man  Mungurrawuy, married  to  Makurr\u, who  comes  from  the Gälpu clan.  

She is an artist who works in many different media including weaving pandanus mats and baskets, painting on barks and Yi[aki, collecting shells to make jewellery, strings for arm-bands and for head-bands.  She also studied as a Health worker through Miwatj Health.  She has great knowledge of bush medicine and plant uses.  She was one of the four translators of the Bible into Gumatj over 26 years.  She works closely with Galarrwuy Yunupi\u at the Garma Festival, working to  educate non-indigenous people about Yol\u life.

EXHIBITIONS:

2000 her work was represented at World Expo Hannover, Germany-”Basic Needs Pavillion”an installation of 60 barks-the seven sisters constillation.
Sept  2001    Darwin  -  Gulumbu’s print  was  exhibited  at  NTU  for  the exhibition  for  Yirrkala  Screenprints.
Dec  2001    Melbourne   -  Her  second  print  was  also  exhibited  in  the Exhibition  that  was  held  in  Melbourne  at  Alcaston  Gallery.
Feb 2002    Her prints then went on from there to Spain for exhibition.
2002-’ARCO’ Madrid Spain
2002-’Gapan Gallery Garma Festival NT
2003-Miami Art Fair Florida, USA
2003- ‘ARCO’- Madrid, Spain
2003-’Marwat’ Alcaston Gallery Melbourne
2003 20th Telstra NATSIAA
2003 Larrakitj Installation Garma Festival
2004 ‘Garak-The Universe’ Gulumbu’s first solo show Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
2004 21st NATSIAA MAGNT
2005 22nd NATSIAA MAGNTJuly-August 2005 Yåkumirri Raft Artspace (exhibition purchased by the Holmes a Court collection)
2005 14  October-27 November ‘Yåkumirri’, Holmes a Court Gallery , Perth
2005 10 NovemberTransformations- the language of craft an international survey of craft.  National Gallery of Australia
2006 9 January Alcaston Gallery Melbourne 
2006 17 July 10 September “l’Esprit de la terre d’Arnhem, art Aborigene du Nord de l’Australie” Passage de Retz Paris
2006 May ‘The Roving Eye’ Gigantic Art Space New York
2006 Melbourne Art Fair
August 2006 ‘Nokturne’ 24 Hour Art Darwin
2006 ‘Bulayi- Small Gems’ Suzanne O’Connell Gallery Brisbane
2007 ‘Star Works’ Gulumbu Yunupi\u at the Depot Gallery, Sydney for Alcaston Gallery, Melb.
2007 Togart Contemporary Art Award (NT), Parliament House, Darwin, NT.
2007- Gapan Gallery- Print Exhibition Garma Festival
2007 Galuku Gallery ( Darwin Festival) Print Exhibition, Botanical gardens.
2007 24th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, MAGNT, Darwin, NT.
2007 ‘Culture Warriors - National Indigenous Art Triennial’, 25th anniversary of the National Gallery of Australia, curated by Brenda Croft, NGA, Canberra, ACT
2007 ’Power and Beauty - Indigenous Art Now’ - Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Victoria, Curated by Judith Ryan
2008, Melbourne Art Fair, represented by Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VictoriA
2008 25th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, Darwin, NT
2008, Gapan Gallery, Berndt Etching Exhibition. Gulkila Garma site, north esat Arnhem Land NT
2008, Galaku Gallery, Berndt Etching Exhibition. Darwin Festival, Botanical Gardens, Darwin, NT
2008 Ochre, Menzies Auction, Melbourne
2008 Etched in the Sun Prints made by Indigenous artists in collaboration with Basil Hall & Printers 1997-2007 ANU, Canberra
2008 ‘Stellar by Starlight’ - Solo Exhibition, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
2008, An Ever Expanding Universe - Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth WA
2009 Larrakitj - the Kerry Stokes Collection, Art gallery of Western Australia, Perth, WA.
2009, After Berndt, Etchings from the Drawings, Mossenson Gallery, Subiaco Perth, WA.
2009, Garak - ACGA, Federation Square, Melbourne in conj w/- Alcaston Gallery, Vic
2009, 26th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, MAGNT, Darwin, NT
2009 Floating Life- Contemporary Aboriginal Fibre Art, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
2009 Beyond Visibility: light and dust/ at the Monash Gallery of Art, Victoria then to the University of Technology, Sydney
2009 Alcaston Gallery 20 Years Survey Show, Depot Street Gallery, Sydney
2009 Culture Warriors, Katzen Arts Center, American University, Washington DC USA
2010 March, International Womens Day, Shanghai, China. 3 Ganyu Larrakitj, VIP Room, Australian Pavillion, World Expo, Shanghai, China
2010 Ten, Highlights of the Holmes a Court Collection 2000-2010 , Holmes a Court Gallery, Perth WA
2010, 17th Biennale of Sydney, ‘Larrakitj ‘- the Kerry Stokes Collection, Museum on Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW
2010’ Gapan Gallery- Collograph Print Exhibition Garma festival
2010, ‘Returning to Djakapurra’ - A Collection of Poles and Barks from Yirrkala, Redot Gallery, Singapore.
2010 Indigenous Art of the Northern Territory, from north east Arnhem Land to the Western Desert, Chunshen Cultural Square, Shanghai, China
2010 All about Art, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne.
2010 Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, WA, nominated by Alcalston Gallery, Melbourne, Vic.
2011 Gulumbu Yunupingu Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria.
2011 Miyalk-Women Feminine art from Yirrkala Framed Gallery Darwin

Bibliography

Gong-Wapitja-Women and art from Yirrkala Aboriginal studies Press-Gillian Hutcherson

South Australian Art Gallery publication 2003

Culture Warriors - National Indigenous Art Triennial 2007 - Catalogue ISBN 9780642541338

Power and Beauty - Indigenous Art Now - ISBN 978 1 921330 03 2

2008 Ochre, Menzies Auction, Melbourne

2008 Etched in the Sun Prints made by Indigenous artists in collaboration with Basil Hall & Printers 1997-2007 ANU, Canberra

Collection Highlights, National Gallery of Australia, Edited by Ron Radford - 2008

Catalogue: 17th Biennale of Sydney - The Beauty of Distance, Songs of Survival, in a Precarious Age. ISBN 978 0 64652 794 

ABC Television Series - Art and Soul, presented by Hetti Perkins, directed by Warwick Thornton, published in the companion to the series under the same title - 704-039915

Collections

Batchelor College Collection

Art Gallery of South Australia

Kerry Stokes Collection

MAGNT

Gove Airport

National Gallery of Australia

Queensland Art Gallery

National Gallery of Victoria

Government of China - gifted by the Government of the Northern Territory

Awards

2004 NATSIAA First Prize

Commissioned to contribute to the interior of the Quai de Branli, Paris 2004-6

Finalist 2006 Tallis Foundation National Works on Paper

2008 Commissioned to install public sculptural work in the new Hedley Bull Centre for World Politics

2010 Featured artist Australian Pavillion World Expo - Film shown by director Annie Venables ‘Sisters’  and 3 Larrakitj in the VIP room.

2010 Peoples Choice Award West Australian Indigenous Art Award

Birany Birany