This winter the Art Gallery of New South Wales will present Yolŋu power: the art of Yirrkala, a major exhibition that platforms one of Australia’s most internationally renowned arts communities and features more than 70 extraordinary Aboriginal artists connected to Yirrkala in the Northern Territory’s Arnhem Land.
Opening on 21 June in the Art Gallery’s Naala Badu building, Yolŋu power traces the history of art from Yirrkala, showcasing the continuation of and diversity within practice from the 1940s to today.
Bringing together more than 300 works created over the span of eight decades, the exhibition considers the significant moments in Yirrkala’s history when artists have consciously altered their practice, developed new styles or embraced new mediums. In covering multiple generations, the exhibition highlights familial connections and cultural continuation. It also contextualises the work of individual artists within the broader school of artists from Yirrkala, and surrounding Miwatj and Laynhapuy Country.
The exhibition is presented in partnership with the Aboriginal-owned art centre, Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre located in Yirrkala. This art centre was established as an act of Yolŋu self-determination in the 1970s, in the midst of the land rights movement. Decades earlier, artists at Yirrkala were among the first Indigenous Australians to employ art as a political tool, most notably through the Yirrkala Bark Petitions of 1963, which were sent to the Australian Parliament to assert Yolŋu custodianship of Country.
Yolŋu people have painted sacred designs on the body and objects since time immemorial. Known as miny’tji these designs are not merely decorative, they are important patterns that denote the interconnection between Yolŋu people, law and Country. Through these visual languages, artists from Yirrkala have shared art as a means of cultural diplomacy – as a respectful assertion of power in its diverse forms, from sovereignty to influence, authority and control, to energy, strength and pride.
A display of more than 80 prints on paper made predominately by female artists working in the Yirrkala Print Space since the mid 1990s, foregrounds the work of the senior women such as Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu whose broader practice evolved from printmaking to explore unique applications of colour, materiality and freedom of expression.
The collective of artists and digital producers from Yirrkala known as The Mulka Project will present two major installations as part of Yolŋu power. The Mulka Project is a digital production studio and archiving centre within Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka that also supports the production of multimedia artworks.
Mulkuṉ Wirrpanda with The Mulka Project Rarrirarri 2023, fiberglass, plaster, projections, sound, 10 min, 3200 x 4900 x 8300 cm, commissioned and produced by RISING and co-commissioned by Illuminate Adelaide for Shadow Spirit (2023) curated by Kimberley Moulton (Yorta Yorta), courtesy and © the artists and The Mulka Project, Yirrkala
A major exhibition highlight will be the Sydney premiere of an immersive experience created by The Mulka Project, its creative director, Ishmael Marika, and his late great-grandmother, Ms M Wirrpanda. Rarrirarri 2023 animates the form of a termite mound with a soundscape of singing and the sounds of Yolŋu Country.
Coinciding with the opening of Yolŋu power, The Mulka Project will also take over the Art Gallery’s Nelson Packer Tank with a new multimedia installation.
Event Details:
Dates: 21 June – 6 October 2025
Location: Art Gallery of New South Wales - Naala Badu building, Lower level 2