Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts

Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts is a remote art centre in east Arnhem Land, which is owned by our Yolŋu members and overseen by a Yolŋu board. We support more than 100 artists from the small Yolŋu town of Gapuwiyak and surrounding homelands in the middle of Miyarrka, a region around Arnhem Bay. There are 18 clans in this region, each with their own interconnected clan estates, songs, patterns and designs.

The art centre assists artists to collect and prepare materials, make high-quality art, explore ideas, develop knowledge and skills, and exhibit, market and sell their work. Gapuwiyak artists paint traditional stories on bark and other materials, weave bush-dyed plant fibres into baskets and mats, and craft and paint wooden carvings, larrakitj (memorial poles) and yidaki (didgeridoos). We also run tourism and cultural programs.

Gapuwiyak artists paint traditional stories on bark and other materials, weave bush-dyed plant fibres into baskets and mats, and craft and paint wooden carvings, larrakitj poles and didgeridoos.