Damien Yilpi Marks Australian Aboriginal art Painting

Title: My Country

Size: 158cm x 92cm

In the vast expanse of Australia’s Central Desert, husband-and-wife artists Damien Marks and Yilpi Marks collaborate on radiant paintings that honour their ancestral Country. Damien, born and raised in Papunya, drew early inspiration from revered elders Clifford Possum, Billy Stockman, and Uta Uta Jangala. As a boy at Papunya School, he observed these mentors laying the groundwork for the Desert art movement, absorbing their techniques of depicting ceremonial regalia and artefacts. Damien preserves Clifford Possum’s heritage, infusing his work with symbolic depth that echoes ancient rituals.

Yilpi, from Ernabella, was shaped by her artist parents, who instilled in her a love for vibrant colours and expressive forms. After moving to Papunya, she blended Ernabella’s bold palettes with Papunya’s intricate storytelling, creating a unified style that celebrates both traditions.

Together, their canvases unfold as vivid maps of the landscape—swirling hills, rugged outcrops, and meandering waterways—layered with ceremonial elements, bush foods like seeds and fruits, and resilient desert vegetation. These works burst with life, weaving cultural narratives that highlight the desert’s spiritual significance to its custodians.

Through their partnership, Damien and Yilpi channel familial and elder influences into timeless expressions, fostering a deeper reverence for Indigenous connections to land and legacy.