Wayilkpa Maymura

Yolŋu artist Wayilkpa Maymuru is part of the esteemed Yirrkala-based Maymuru family of artists. Referencing the settlement of her homeland Djarrakpi by ancestral heroes, telling their story of death, rest and rebirth to the sky, Wayilkpa’s artistic practice emerges from rich cultural and intellectual traditions. Her refined and meditative mark marking, the artist navigates the space between what is revealed and what is concealed. This work reflects the Buwayak movement; a word that translates to ‘invisibility’. This movement, which emerged in the early 2000s, marked a move away from the figurative imagery dictated by earlier conventions and instead employs subtle, layered surfaces and restrained iconography. Crafting works that embody the unseen, rather than illustrate it.