Dorothy Bunibuni (born 1981) is a Kuninjku fibre artist from Ji-balbal, an outstation on her father’s Country in western Arnhem Land. She is one of a new generation of artists emerging from the celebrated weaving traditions of Maningrida and is the younger sister of renowned fibre artist Anniebell Marrngamarrnga. Working closely alongside her sister, Bunibuni has developed a distinctive artistic practice grounded in the rich weaving traditions of her family and community while expressing an individual aesthetic sensibility of her own.

Dorothy’s practice embraces a fluid and expressive approach. She works primarily with locally harvested pandanus and natural bush dyes gathered from around Ji-balbal. Like many Arnhem Land weavers, her practice is deeply connected to Country, with the seasonal collection, preparation and dyeing of fibres forming an integral part of the creative process. Her woven sculptures and spirit figures reflect both cultural knowledge and a close relationship with the landscape from which her materials are sourced.

Dorothy has rapidly gained recognition through her inclusion in important exhibitions across Australia. Her work was featured in Shadow Spirit (2023), the major RISING Melbourne exhibition curated by Kimberley Moulton that transformed Flinders Street Station into a presentation of contemporary First Nations spirit worlds and ancestral presences.

Dorothy’s fibre sculptures are represented in the collection of the National Museum of Australia, where her woven yawkyawk spirit figures sit within a broader lineage of Arnhem Land fibre innovation. Through her practice, she continues to build upon the achievements of the senior women artists who came before her while contributing her own voice to one of Australia’s most dynamic contemporary fibre traditions.