inscribed verso: Wanyubi, 2333T, 0403YIRR
accompanied by a copy of the certificate of authenticity from Buku- Larrnggay Mulka

PROVENANCE
Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, NT Cat No. 2333T
Annandale Galleries, NSW Cat No. 0403YIRR
Private collection, NSW

Wanyubi Marika belongs to a distinguished family of Yolngu artists from Yirrkala in northeast Arnhem Land. In “Muypan” he depicts country central to the Rirratjingu clan, translating ancestral narratives into finely worked compositions of ochre on bark.

Muypan is a coastal site tied to powerful creation events. It is associated with the passage of ancestral beings who shaped the shoreline, bringing into existence the features of land and sea still recognised today. The designs painted by Marika are not literal landscapes but ceremonial representations of these events, encoded in clan patterns that communicate story, law, and custodianship.

Marika’s work is distinguished by its refined miny’tji (sacred clan designs), executed with a high degree of precision. In Muypan, radiating structures and delicate infill capture the rhythms of tide, wind, and ancestral movement across country. The painting demonstrates his role in carrying forward the legacy of his father, Wandjuk Marika, while also contributing his own visual clarity and strength to the continuing tradition of Yolngu bark painting.

@ WANYUBI MARIKA / Buku-Larrangay Art Centre, 2025

Wanyubi Marika

Muypan

About the artist

Artwork description