Name

Namiyal Bopirri

Culture

Aboriginal Australian

Gender

Female

Birth date

1927

Birth place

Djilinginimir, Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia View on map Close map

Occupations

Artist (painter) | Printmaker

Summary

Worked: Australia (NT). Lithographs, linocuts, screenprints

NGA IRN

21171

Context

Australia

Biography

Namiyal Bopirri

Namiyal Bopirri was born in 1929 at Djilinginimir in north-eastern Arnhem Land. She is of the Galwanuk-Liyagalawumirr people and was brought up in the Yolngu (traditional Aboriginal) ways.

Bopirri learned weaving from her mother and is now recognised as one of the finest weavers of Ramingining, known for her definite, firm style and use of strong colours and shapely form.

She began painting in the late 1980s when her late husband, Tony Djikululu, taught her bark painting. She often collaborated with her husband on bark paintings intended for the public domain. While the collaboration of artists in particular, ritual relationships and belonging to opposite moieties is a common feature of the production of art in ritual circumstances, it is rare for a husband and wife to work together.

Many of Bopirri images come from the Wagilag Sisters creation story, one of the most important creation myths of this region: her itchy caterpillars, bush foods and snakes are all elements of this story. Her country, Guruwana, is often painted in the minimalist sacred rocks design. Other favourite subjects include Wayanaka, oyster beds, which are features of her rocky salt-water country east of Ramingining on the mainland side of Huchinson Strait.

Most of Namiyals works are painted on bark, however during the dry months, when bark collection is impossible Bopirri will rummage for plyboard off-cuts from buildings and use these to paint on.

From 1990 she began showing in major exhibitions in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. Her works have been purchased by the Australian National Gallery, Canberra and the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide and she is also represented in the John Kluge Collection, an important collection of Aboriginal art at the University of Virginia in Charlottsville, USA.

Biography courtesy of the Australian Art Print Network, 2001.
© Australianprints

Affiliation

Liyagalawumirr (Yolngu) people

ATSI region

Arnhem

Sub-region

Central Arnhem Land

Specific location

Ramingining

Artist’s country

Gurruwana

Language

Liyagalawumirr

Sub-section

Gamanydjan

Clan

Birritjama

Moiety

Dhuwa