Gutiŋarra Yunupiŋu's artistic practice focuses on using new media and technologies to represent Yolŋu culture. Fire Tree, created at The Mulka Project, is a compelling example of the Gumatj artist's experiments in storytelling, bringing together the past and present of a universe of signs that express his connection to land and his Ancestors. 

Born deaf, Gutiŋarra’s work tests the possibilities of non-verbal communication in examining and representing self and culture. 

Read a note on Fire Tree by curator Kate ten Buuren

"Fire Tree is an intimate self-portrait that opens on the artist’s face emerging from a cloud of smoke. His gaze is directed at us while his forehead is being painted with yellow ochre. Flames and embers from the fire encompass Gutiŋarra and we see his hands, communicating in Yolŋu Sign Language (YSL), expressing his deep and layered connection to family and Country. 

Gutiŋarra’s Gumatjj clan are people of the Birany Birany, the land of gurtha (fire). On his chest and stomach are designs painted to reflect his totem Bäru, the crocodile. For generations, Yolŋu have painted their bodies with designs that reflect their deep relationship to place; through a visual language that communicates their belonging. 

In Fire Tree, Gutiŋarra uses YSL and body markings that highlight his connection to Country, mapping his familial and Ancestral connections. The film reflects the cyclical nature of how we demonstrate our connection to place through the languages we use, and how place informs our words and tools for expression; that language comes from the land, skies and waters."