Waŋupini: Clouds Of Remembrance And Return

Waŋupini (clouds) is the same story as my father taught me about the sunset.

—Bulthirrirri Wunuŋmurra

Curated by: Douglas Fordham, Professor and Chair of the Department of Art, University of Virginia. 

Clouds drift in subtly modified patterns in these artworks by Nawurapu Wunuŋmurra and  Bulthirrirri Wunuŋmurra, both Yolŋu artists from Arnhem Land at the top end of Australia’s Northern Territory. The thunderheads are associated with the beginning of the monsoonal wet season and the first sighting of perahu (boats) from Indonesia on the horizon. Fishermen based in the port of Makassar in Sulawesi, Indonesia, visited the north coast of Australia every year starting in late December or early January to gather trepang (sea cucumber) and engage in trade. They departed on the winds associated with bulunu, or the southeast cloud formations that herald the dry season.