Artist Talk with Milminyina Dhamarrandji and Isadora Vaughan

Hear from artists Milminyina Dhamarrandji and Isadora Vaughan about their works in the 2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Yield Strength.

Milminyina Dhamarrandji was born in 1960 at Wirrwawuy, near Yirrkala and Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula, at the very northeastern tip of the Northern Territory. She is the daughter of Gumatj woman Rrirraliny Yunupiŋu (a daughter of famous artist and political figure Mungurrawuy Yunupiŋu), and Gunguyuma Dhamarrandji, who was brought up by the legendary Djapu leader Woŋgu Munuŋgurr. Her märi, or mother's mother's clan, is Rirratjiŋu, the landowners of Yirrkala, who share many sacred designs with the Djambarrpuyŋu of this area.

Her recent works explore the theme of the songlines associated with ceremonies connected to Dhambadiŋ (Death or Deaf Adder) on Bremer Island.

Isadora Vaughan's work engages with the concept of novel ecosystems—drawn from the fields of environmental conservation and restoration—as a framework for examining the systems of value that shape our experiences and interactions with the material world. In this context, materials function not merely as passive substances but as carriers of complex political and cultural values. Their presence reveals the limitations of conventional approaches that treat both living and non-living matter as static or predetermined. By considering novel ecosystems as dynamic material assemblages, her work investigates how such entanglements can be spatially articulated through sculpture, offering a means to critically engage with the changing ecologies of the contemporary landscape.