Shimmer

Gulumbu Yunupingu is survived by a large family and a circle of friends across the world. In recognition of her international importance the family have consented to her name appearing in text, but requested that no image be shown, and that her first name not be uttered. Instead she can be referred to as Djotarra or Ms Yunupingu.

Nothing but Stars

Yolgnu judge a bark painting in terms of the light and luminosity created by its cross-hatching. In art from East Arnhem Land a complex transformation process takes place, causing the bark surface to change from its natural dull tone to bir'yun, or brilliant. This expression of luminosity through shimmer is the basis of Yolgnu aesthetics ...

Yolgnu artists stress that the process of painting is a religious act and that the vibrancy of the painted surface is a manifestation of ancestral power ...

—Georges Petitjean, Contemporary Aboriginal Art

Djotarra—mother, healer,comforter of the dying,cultural and community leaderand an artist on many fronts,began her work as a painterlate in life, the starred sky her subject.I've stood before a painting where close-meshed stars swirl across the contours of a great sheet of bark, rhythmed as if by intricate flows of waterand felt drawn in towardsthe unseen reaches ofher vision of the universe,even while I stayed earthed, gazing from this smallness,my mind silenced by the mystery.Djotarra said, the sky unifies us: 'We can all look at the stars whichever sky we are looking at.'She said, if we could seeeverything that exists in the night sky, we would see nothing but stars.

A Ceiling in Paris

Djotarra was one of eight Aboriginal artists invited to create works for the Musée du Quai Branly. A night sky with thousands of stars, painted in white, black, red and yellow ochres, covers a ceiling on the second floor which is illuminated at night. At the opening ceremony in 2006, she spoke of wishing to share her art and culture: 'This is my gift to you, the French people, and to the people of the world. This is my heart.'

Suppose yourself in Paris,walking at night pastthe Musée du Quai Branly.

Your gaze travels through glass wallsto a ceiling that has becomea resplendent sky.

And in daylight you might seefrom inside the Museum,the Eiffel Tower

needling up throughthe ceiling's starry reflectionin the vertical glass.

Her first name, now unspoken,was given the meaning,'the star shining from the North.'

Once, when a child,camping out with her familyon a cloudless night,

she felt a light rain settlingon her skin—'tears from the stars'was her mother's thought.

Decades later, when Djotarrapainted the stars, some would haveat their centre, an eye.

Djotarra Dying

Her whole communitycame to be with herthrough the last days of her life,camping in the hospital grounds,the children running alongcorridors, playing on the grass.

As she lay in a coma,her sisters keening around her,a recording of that samesacred keening, 'milkarri,'was played from a mobile phoneplaced on her pillow:the voice of Gaymala,the sister who had died.Djotarra, though unconscious,joined her older sister in keening.

She had lived with the beliefthat once gone from this life,her spirit would take its placeamong the stars, with her ancestors,while also present with themwithin the bodies of water ofher Country, North East Arnhem Land.The stars, the dark, bright watersshining inside each other.

Blessing

Among the boundless giftsthat are her legacy,Djotarra left these words:'The truth lies in what every artist has to say;there is healing for people when they see beauty.'