bugai whyoulter | selected works
“In Bugai’s work we get a strong sense of all the animated relationships in country, her personal memories, her experience of walking the desert, knowing its rock holes, its bush gardens … and of being able to, in a sense, re-live it and share it through her beautiful, tactile paintings. She certainly stands out as a painter who knows her own mark, who is truly irrepressible and while her canvases speak to the past, they are also very much looking to the future.”
Born circa 1940 at Pukayiyirna (now Balfour Downs Station), Whyoulter’s nomadic lifestyle changed dramatically in the 1960s when she settled with family at Jigalong Mission. She now lives at Kunawarritji but moves regularly between communities and occasionally into the mainstream art world in the service of her established art career. Today Bugai is considered one of most established Martumili Artists, and is known as a master of color, gesture and subtlety. Her self reflective works are layered with distinctively delicate brushmarks, with subtle color changes representing landmarks, water sources, and desert flora.
