Djakanu Yunupinu
- Tears of the Djulpan 2023- ochres on hollowed Stringybark
Working from the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre in Yirrkala, Djakaŋu Yunupiŋu first exhibited her paintings in 2021 at the age of seventy-two, after caring for her late sister Mrs N Yunupiŋu for many years. She had previously participated in printmaking workshops with her sisters when in 2011 they collectively made the renowned, Seven Sisters suite of prints.
She is the daughter of the late Gumatj leader, activist, and prominent Australian painter Muŋgurrawuy Yunupiŋu (c.1905–1979). Her family are celebrated across literary, artistic, and political fields with her brother, Dr Mandawuy Yunupiŋu, a founding member and lead singer of Yothu Yindi, and her elder brother, Yunupiŋu, recently deceased, a leader in land rights legislation and former Northern Land Council chairman. Her six sisters are all esteemed artists and previous winners of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.
Djakaŋu paints on bark using earth pigments and gapan (clay) applied with a small brush called a Marwat, which is a small brush made by hand using fine, straight, human hair. She methodically applies the paint onto the surface of the bark using a technique called rarrk (cross-hatching). Through dedicated practice she has honed and refined this technique.
Tears of the Djulpan illustrates a songline that can be drawn from Arnhem Land through the islands of Southeast Asia to what is now known as Singapore. The story, shared by Djakaŋu’s father, explains that women paddle in their canoe from island to island collecting from the land then lighting their fires. The delicate balance of land, sea and stars must be respected, everything depends on it. If the fires are lit before the women return home to cook their food, they will cry. Djakaŋu paints this rain, falling out of season as tears from the sky, known as gurmalili.
Djakaŋu tells of how she would go to school and then comeback to watch her father paint and listen to the stories of Djulpan. Her father explained to her how the story had been painted for a long time and gave Djakaŋu, and her sisters, permission to start painting different parts of the story. © The Artist, Buku-Larrnggay Mulka and Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne 2023