Dr. B. Marika AO
Dr. B. Marika was a very great Australian, a premier artist and fierce negotiator. She came from Yirrkala, North East Arnhem Land, the home of the Yolngu peoples. She pioneered Yolngu women’s art in many fields and by the time of her death in July 2021 had left a legacy that expressed her passionate commitment to Yolngu culture, her family, the environment, and sacred places of creation. Through lyrical lines, colour, mapping in precise formation, and respectful precision she was able to detail the sacred knowledge and creative forces of nature, yet had also taken a key role on fifty boards or advisory groups of state and national art institutions (including the National Gallery of Australia, 2012–2015) as well as environmental management bodies. All this whilst rearing five children, then caring as mother and grandmother to perhaps one hundred more – the future generations of the wider family clan – too often in grief and anxiety for the many tragedies she could not prevent.
As her name is withheld due to funereal protocols and the danger to families of the power of the spirits, I will
