Floating life: contemporary Aboriginal fibre art

62 63 that is a process-oriented investigation of ideas. Like the glittering allure of stars cast across the night, the artist’s exploration of the subtleties of hue and form is a decorative veil that tests the limits of human knowledge in the shadow of an unfathomable universe. Astrophysicists tell us that we perceive astronomical bodies only after a delay of hundreds or thousands of light years. Each star is a perpetually changing state of energy and matter, momentarily perceptible within the scope of human senses as a mesmerising stream of light travelling across expanses. In beholding the universe, we therefore face the paradox of seeing the past in the present: eye and light join across distance and time to provide traces of an ancient past manifest in the present. These marvels of astrophysics may assist us to grasp the Yolngu axiom of a world comprised of timeless forces that transcend simple distinctions between past and present, physics and metaphysics, the visible and invisible, science and art. From her immersion in sacred art traditions, Yunupingu uses the act of painting as a conduit to knowledge — an activity that becomes a revelatory process. Her paintings of ganyu (stars) and garak (the universe) are a means of cataloguing impressions of the infinite variation of the night sky through patterns of repetition and difference. However, they also comprise a single body of work that now spans nine years. Its basis is investigative: an internal meditation sustained across hundreds of objects with the aim of testing the nature and limits of human knowledge in the face of an ever expanding universe. At the heart of Yunupingu’s practice is a conceptual inquiry and a profound philosophical reflection on the human condition in the face of the sublime. She paints the universe star by star, as if by painting each one she might reach its finitude and glimpse what lies beyond. With deep humility, with discipline, the artist sustains an unending and unachievable journey, to travel beyond the limits of human knowledge. The vast night sky both reassures us — an enveloping symbol of a transcendent, common humanity — and exposes the unsettling fragility of human existence. The crux of Gulumbu Yunupingu’s work lies in holding both of these together, in the space of the unknown where simple, humbling beauty stirs profound revelation. Garak, the Universe 2004 Natural pigments on bark 174 x 59cm Acc. 2005.008 Purchased 2008 Ganyu (Stars) 2007 Natural pigments on bark 192 x 74cm Acc. 2008.114 Purchased 2008 with funds from the Estate of Jessica Ellis through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Garak, the Universe (Larrakitj) (detail) 2004 Natural pigments on wood 385 x 20cm (irreg.) Acc. 2005.010 Purchased 2005