Australia, 1962

OWEN YALANDJA was born in 1962 and lives in the Maningrida area of central Arnhem Land. He has participated in dozens of exhibitions in Australia, Germany, France, USA and Japan. YALANDJA'S work has been acquired by most state galleries and is represented in important public and private collections in Australia and overseas.

OWEN YALANDJA is a senior member of the Dangkorlo clan, the custodians of an important Yawkyawk site. Yawkyawks are female water spirits, the closest translation to western culture being the mermaid. Yalandja has been carving these magnificent works since the early 1980's and learned his art initially from his father, the renowned Crusoe Kuniingbal who invented in the early seventies this type of carving through representing Mimih spirits in sculptural form for use in trade ceremonies. His brother Crusoe Kurdall is an artist of great repute famous for his Mimih and Yawkyawk sculptures.