Everywhen Art is delighted to present the first solo exhibition of East Arnhem Land bark painter Gurrundul Marawili. Gurrundul's main subject is that of Lulumu, the ancestral creation stingray figure, and the stingray's sites near her large homeland settlement of Yilpara at Blue Mud Bay. In soft textures of natural earth pigments, her imagery weaves in flowing lines and intricate detail to create elegant paintings of great beauty and subtle power.
Amidst the plethora of world-famous art talents of her Yolngu art centre Buku-Larrnggay Mulka, Gurrundul Marawili is something of a quiet achiever. A daughter of the famous late artist Mrs M. Wirrpanda, sister of community and cultural leader, Djambawa Marawili and wife of artist Wanyupi Marika, Gurrundul Marawili has been painting for some 16 years. She exhibited with her sister Yalmakany in two successful exhibitions at Annandale Galleries, Sydney in 2008 and 2010.
Of equal import to this talented artist however is her work as an ecologist and ranger with the Yirralka Rangers. While her ecological work interrupts her painting career, working so closely in and with her Country continually informs her art practice. From 2009, Gurrundul and Yalmakany also worked closely alongside their mother to record, in art and detailed descriptions, the significant plants of their Blue Mud Bay country. Mrs Wirrpanda had been deeply concerned that the knowledge of the plants and their cultural significance may be lost with her passing and she had ignited a similar passion in her daughters.
Amidst this important cultural and ecological work, it has taken Gurrundul almost 5 years to create enough paintings for a solo exhibition. Having show her work in group exhibitions since 2010 it is with great pleasure that Everywhen Art is now presenting her first solo exhibition.