Yolngu artist Nonggirrnga Marawili was born c.1939 in Arnhem Land, beginning her career as a printmaker before shifting her focus to work on bark using ochre, natural pigments and (more recently) recycled printer toner.

Lightning illuminating ocean spray, rocks, cyclones and water currents all find a place in Marawili’s imagery, and her uniquely innovative visual language – a poised and instinctive feel for negative space combined with traditional cross-hatch motifs – has meant her work is recognised and sought after by collectors and institutions throughout Australia, as well as in New Zealand, USA and Europe.

Nonggirrnga Marawili was the winner of the prestigious Bark Painting Award at both the 2015 and 2019 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. She was the subject of a retrospective exhibition, ‘From My Heart and My Mind,’ at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in November 2018 and was included in NIRIN, the critically acclaimed 2020 Sydney Biennale curated by Brook Andrew.

Tim Melville Gallery is proud to work alongside the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre in Yirrkala, Northern Territory.

Artist Portrait: Courtesy Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre