Born in 1980, Bandarr is from a family of significant Yolŋu artists. Both his father, Dhukal Wirrpanda, and his mother, Galuma Maymuru, are highly respected for their intricate bark paintings and sculptures.
Bandarr was one of five artists exhibited in the 2006 'Young Guns' exhibition at Annandale Galleries, and has recently adopted a metal etching practice, using reclaimed signs and discarded metals from the landscape, and infusing the work with sacred clan designs known as miny’tji. The practice of using reclaimed metals was first established in the ground-breaking exhibition 'Murrŋiny - stories of metal from the east' and extends the Yolŋu peoples longstanding history of metal use. This history dates back to initial contact with the Makassans who traded metal with the Yolŋu for its precious utility in the production of spearheads and other weapons/tools.
Bandarr depicts various miny’tji (sacred clan designs) from both his mother and father’s clans including his mother’s Maŋgalili designs which represent the moving surface of the rivers, sand and sea. Bandarr is an Indigenous Ranger of his homelands around Dhuruputjpi and is involved in sacred and secret ceremonial matters.