A Parisian Romance

On cyclone watch at Gunyungarra, Gulumbu Yunupingu speaks gently into her mobile phone: "We're waiting on Cyclone Monica. Coming this way." It's late April in Northeast Arnhem Land, in Australia's Top End, and until the rains came, Yunupingu, an expert in art and bush medicine, had been foraging for yam. Now, as well as the category five storm to worry about, there's her exhibition debut in Paris looming on the horizon, and the mother of four has returned to her community near Yirrkala to paint. As it transpires, over the course of the next few days Monica manages to sidestep Yirrkala,...