Judy Baypungala was born into the Nakarrana clan of the Wurlaki people in 1941. Wurlaki country lies about fifteen kilometres to the west of the township of Ramingining in central Arnhem Land. Married to senior artist and clan leader Dr David Daymirringu (1927–99), Baypungala was the third of his four wives.

Baypungala has lived for many years in a large, dynamic family group with her husband and extended family at Yathalamarra, to the north east of Ramininging. Central to life there is the Yathalamarra waterhole which is fed by freshwater springs. It reads from the air as a magnificent, shining u-shaped body of water, surrounded by soft grasses and a forest of ti-trees. Here there is an abundance of raw materials for weaving and making paintings and sculptures, and a plentiful supply of bush foods.

After a hard day spent collecting and processing pandanus and dye roots, Baypungala would regularly relax with her family by swimming in the cool Yathalamarra waters amongst fragrant waterlily flowers. As a celebrated artist, her husband Dr David Daymirringu attracted visits by many Australian and international researchers, curators, film-makers and photographers, who were always enthralled by the energy and creativity at Yathalamarra.

Baypungala is dedicated to her craft and very prolific, her weaving being distinguished by exciting innovations in design, ambitious scale and the use of brilliant natural colours. Her co-wives, Rosie Rrodji, Margaret Gindjimirri and Elsie Ganbada, are also very talented weavers, each with a particular style and focus in their work, though still very much in the recognisable Yathalamarra aesthetic.

Baypungala makes classic, traditional baskets and bags as well as exciting variations on these forms, particularly of mindirr (conical baskets) and circular mats. She is one of the last specialist makers of Mewana, an open- weave collecting bag twined from sedge grass, which she gathers from the fringes of the Arafura Wetlands. In 1984 she assisted her husband in making a lipalipa, a canoe dug out of a Kapok tree with a hand-held adze. It was exhibited at the Power Gallery of Contemporary Art in Sydney in 1984 in the exhibition 'Objects and representations from Ramingining', and was subsequently acquired by the Gallery (now the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney).

Baypungala's talent has been recognised by her inclusion in many prestigious exhibitions held both in Australia and Internationally. Some of these are: 'Buyu Djama: Pandanus weaving from Arnhem Land', Canberra School of Art Gallery, ACT, 1993; 'Objects from the Dreaming: Aboriginal decorated and woven objects, incorporating the Maud Vizard-Wholohan Purchase Awards', Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 1996; 'Australian Perspecta', Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1997; 'Ramingining: Arte aborigen australiano de la Tierra de Arnhem', Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2002 and '21st Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award', Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, 2004.

This circular mat is a fine example of Baypungala's fibre art. Closely-woven bands of intense colour 'anchor' areas of open weave — in particular, one of golden yellow that contrasts starkly with the predominantly rich orange-to-red colour of the body of the mat. A dramatic fringe results from threads left to flow from the untrimmed, radiating warp. Interestingly, the colours in the mat are all from the same dye source, the yellow root bark of a small tree commonly found in the north of Australia. The addition of white ashes, found and collected in the savannah bush land after fires have passed, change the bright yellow fibres to shades of orange and red.