Now representing Wanapati Yunupiŋu

Tolarno Galleries is thrilled to announce representation of Wanapati Yunupiŋu(born 1989, homeland Biranybirany; clan Gumatj, Rrakpala group; moiety Yirritja). Wanapati recently presented his debut solo exhibition at the 2022 Melbourne Art Fair.

Wanapati works on found and discarded street signs and metal forms, etching his sacred Gumatj clan designs and narratives into their surface using a rotary tool. In 2021 Wanapati was included in the ground-breaking and sell out exhibition Murrŋiny – a story of metal from the east at the Northern Centre of Contemporary Art (NCCA) in partnership with Salon Art Projects.

Wanapati was a finalist in the 2021 NATSIAA award with his works on discarded baking trays. He was selected to hold a solo exhibition as part of the 2022 Melbourne Art Fair Indigenous Art Centre Program, a new initiative supporting the participation of Indigenous-owned contemporary art centres at Melbourne Art Fair.

Wanapati was awarded the $10,000 First Nations Commission Supported by Bennelong Funds Management for Gurtha. The artwork will be gifted to Shepparton Art Museum.

Tolarno Galleries will present a solo exhibition by Wanapati Yunupiŋu in February 2023, in partnership with the Indigenous art centre Buku Larrŋgay Mulka located in Yirrkala, North East Arnhemland, NT.

Image: Wanapati Yunupiŋu with recent artworks. Photograph courtesy Buku Larrŋgay Mulka.