ABSTRACT
The major shift over time in art production has been away from embellished material culture objects toward bark paintings and other objects produced primarily for sale. The author main focus will be on bark paintings, since until recently they have dominated in the fine art market. However, today hollow-log coffins have joined bark paintings as a major component of the market for Yolngu fine art. There were a number of Indigenous contexts in which bark paintings were produced. The change occurred both as the inventory of material culture was reduced and as the demand for bark paintings for sale increased. Today hollow-log coffins have joined bark paintings as the main form of expression of fine art from Yirrkala. In the 1970s these were not made for sale anywhere in Arnhem Land, though the mortuary poles of the Tiwi of Melville and Bathurst islands had gained widespread renown.
