Ms M Wirrpanda – Telstra Works on Paper Award

Ms M Wirrpanda was a senior female Yolŋu artist and a leader for the Dhuḏi-Djapu clan from Dhuruputjpi in Eastern Arnhem Land.

Her work, shared as part of the 2021 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, is called ‘Untitled’. This work comprises of 70 works on paper which were described by Ms Wirrpanda as a depiction of Yolŋu families collecting maypal (edible shellfish) in the mangroves.

The work was created in the last months of her life and is shared with the public with permission from her family.

Using natural earth pigments Ms M Wirrpanda painted sacred designs that depicted her land and identity on bark, larrakitj (hollow logs) and yidaki. She was also a talented carver, weaver and printmaker.

From 2012 she began making work concerned with Yolŋu spiritual and scientific knowledge of edible plants and animals. A collaborative project with landscape artist John Wolseley on the botany of Blue Mud Bay resulted in two exhibitions M. Wirrpanda & John Wolseley: Two old artists looking for shellfish which toured Australia and Midawarr/Harvest, presented by the National Museum of Australia in 2017.

The contribution that Ms Wirrpanda made to Western scientific knowledge and Yolŋu understanding during her life, as well as her contribution to the arts is remarkable.

Her work has been exhibited throughout Australia and in Asia and is held in public and private collections.

Read the judges’ comments about Ms M Wirrpanda and her artwork at 2021 Winners.