Arts works of the late Ms D Yunupiŋu and fellow Yolŋu artist Wayilkpa Maymuru will be presented in two new exhibitions presented by Sullivan+Strumpf.

The exhibitions, which run 30 January to 22 February at Sullivan+Strumpf in Gadigal/Sydney, will be opened with a celebration on 1 February 3pm-5pm.

Sullivan+Strumpf said they are very proud to present Marwat, an exhibition of works by the late Ms D Yunupiŋu.

"We are devastated to share news of the sudden loss of Ms D Yunupiŋu who was a loving, caring, and generous soul to everyone in her life," the group said in a statement.

"Daughter of Muŋgurrawuy and sister to Gulumbu, Nyapanyapa, Barrupu, Djerrkŋu and many other distinguished siblings including her two brothers, who both received the award of Australian of the Year.

"This family's impact on Australian art, music and politics cannot be ignored. Despite losing her husband, the famed yiḏaki master, Mr D Gurruwiwi, she continued to work tirelessly supporting her beloved family. Ms D Yunupiŋu's family have given their permission for her final body of work to be exhibited posthumously."

The work is part of a new series that Yunupiŋu initiated in early 2024. It references the threads of the material known as galiku, djårritjarri or manydjarrka. This is the cloth which the Makassans would bring and share with the Yolŋu in return for their labour and access to trepang. As per the songs and often practiced dances relating to this material, a part of the story is the fraying under impact from the winds. This reveals the nature of the material to be similar to that of Yolŋu cosmology made up of many threads like the family connections that embody gurruṯu.

The lines are made with the fine lines of the marwat or line brush made from a few strands of straight hair usually from a young girl. This is a distinctive Yolŋu painting apparatus and style which is manifest here in its most reductive form.

The material relates to the seafaring Makassan family members whose centuries old visits and settlements defined the economy and society of Yolŋu.

Sullivan+Strumpf is also presenting Wayilkpa Maymuru's debut presentation with their gallery, Maŋgalili Origins.

A Yolŋu artist of the Maŋgalili clan and a member of Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, Wayilkpa Maymuru's work references the settlement of her homeland Djarrakpi by ancestral heroes, telling their story of death, rest and rebirth to the sky.

"Her paintings have a complex symbolism, they represent ancestral stories in symbolic narratives, often composed in bands. Similar elements occur across the paintings, with different but related meanings. Similarly to her father and grandfather, her art is a means to communicate ideas and knowledge to an external audience and a means of ensuring the continuity of ancestral law," said Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre in a statement.

"Typical of Yolŋu philsophy, her work speaks to a wholistic appreciation of cycle of life, an acceptance of ultimate destiny and a continuous spiritual connection to country, both land and sea.

"Of particular note with her work is the use of 'buwyak' - the Yolŋu practice of integrating or camouflaging a figurative narrative within the patterns of the waters of Djarrakpi and stars of the Milky Way which are considered as one, transcendent to each other."