Baluka Maymuru
Baluka Maymuru (1947–2024) was an Aboriginal Australian artist from Yirrkala in north-eastern Arnhem Land. He led the Manggalili clan, the Belaŋ group, and belonged to the Yirritja moiety, linking ceremony and art in Yolŋu society. He was the son of Nänyin' Maymuru and the nephew of Narritjin Maymuru, both important artists. The Maymuru family’s work tells the story of Djarrakpi, their country.
Baluka was a sculptor, painter and printmaker who worked mainly on bark with natural pigments. He created works that center on Djarrkpi’s saltwater country near Cape Shield and contributed bark paintings to the Saltwater project, which helped affirm Yolŋu ownership of the intertidal waters. This effort was linked to the Blue Mud Bay sea rights case.
His three-dimensional larrakitj (funerary poles) and other sculptures express Yolŋu creation stories. One well-known bark painting, Yingapungapu (1986), is in the National Gallery of Victoria. His 1998 Mangalili Monuk shows ancestors and sea life and the connections between land, water and sea.
Baluka took part in major commissions, including the 1996 John W. Kluge commission and the 2017–19 Kluge-Ruhe Maḏayin commission. He curated the Manggalili section of the Maḏayin exhibition and contributed an essay to its catalogue. He also collaborated in 2003 on a ḻarrakitj for a clan member.
His art and ceremonial work reflect a duty to keep Yolŋu law and knowledge alive, and he shared this heritage internationally through exhibitions. His works are held in galleries around the world, including four larrakitj at the Seattle Art Museum from 2001.
Baluka Maymuru passed away in 2024 in Yirrkala, aged about 77.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 04:25 (CET).