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Neil Cooke

Neil Cooke

Jupurrurla worked in Lajamanu and Yuendumu at various jobs, many of which were trade related, for decades. With changes to the council work place, Neil decided it was time to finish work with the local council.  The art centre approached him and offered him work.  For several years Neil has been a key worker focusing on projects centred on men.  This includes making artefacts, furniture, frames and other duties assisting in running the art centre in Lajamanu.  He now heads up projects assisting others to produce works such as a digital installation call YAMA.  He has been creating large commissions heading up teams of men creating murals on walls of commercial premises walls and inside galleries.

His artistic practice centres around old traditional Warlpiri Ceremony and the practice of ceremony.  He was working in this area under senior elder Jerry Jangala Patrick, who was seeking to officially qualify him in woodwork design and practice through traditional ceremony. Jupurrurla has branched out into new artforms and, in July of 2013, he traveled to Europe to visit contemporary museums and work with other artists there. He has since taken the lead on YAMA, a large scale multimedia installation art project at Warnayaka Art.  Again in 2017 he traveled to London to help install YAMA at Furtherfield Gallery.  He painted the back drop across 2 gallery walls and contributed significantly in the floor talks.  Jupurrurla has recently begun to work in small formats producing a limited number of works on canvas.  Prior all works were in wall sized formats or in ceremony art.