Tiwi Creation | Exhibition 14 May 2022 - 4 June 20 by Cooee Art Leven

COOEE ART REDFERN | 14 MAY - 4 JUNE 2022

TIWI CREATION | COOEE ART

TIWI CREATION

GROUP EXHIBITION TIWI CREATION 14 MAY - 4 JUNE 2022 COOEE ART REDFERN 17 Thurlow Street Redfern NSW 2016

ARTISTS ALISON PURUNTATAMERI CAROL PURUNTATAMERI CHRISTINE PURUNTATAMERI DECLAN APUATIMI JACQUELINE PURUNTATAMERI LEON RUSSELL BLACK LIDWINA PURUNTATAMERI MARIE SIMPLICIA TIPUAMANTUMIRRI OSMOND PANGIRAMINNI PAULINA PURUNTATAMERI SHIRLEY PURUNTATAMERI SIMPLICIA TIPUNGWUTI SUSAN WANJI WANJI THECLA BERNADETTE PURUNTATAMERI VIRGINIA GALARLA

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“It’s for our future generation to learn and respect and embrace their cultural side. Who they are and where they are from. ” - PAULINA PURUNTATAMERI

Tiwi Creation Mirri Leven

Director Cooee Art

The works in this exhibition showcase the artists’ individual styles in depicting shared stories. Some artists adhere closely to traditional tools, employing a wooden comb (Pwoja) to apply dots to their canvas or sculpture. Others may use sticks or western paint brushes in their mark-making. The commonality comes from the deep heritage and tradition each artist is influenced and inspired by. In an introductory statement in the book Tiwi, Art/Histroy/ Culture, Pedro Wonaemirri opens with ‘We are the Tiwi. Tiwi is we the people. […] We Tiwi people have to keep our culture alive. The art from long time ago and today we are still seeing it as Tiwi art.” Tiwi society is quite different to that of mainland communities. The Kuluma and the Pukumani ceremonies lie at the heart of Tiwi culture. The Kulama is the ceremony associated with fertility and abundance, during which poisonous yams are made edible. The Pukumani is a funeral ceremony in which

elaborate poles are carved, decorated, and erected to become the focus of dancing and singing. Intricate designs adorn the face and body of the performers, matching the designs of the poles. “The knowledge is when you listen, then look — the knowledge is by words, singing, talking, and also the dance, meanings of dance, and the song that goes with the dance and also art as well. And now I am creating my own art, my own style, totally different. My art is my art” Pedro Wonaeamirri Jennifer Isaacs explains in her comprehensive book Tiwi, Art/History/Culture. “Distinct in style and form, the art of the Tiwi may be rooted in tradition and ceremony but not all can, or should be explained. “The Tiwi artists feel the interior meaning of paintings is changeable and is theirs to know or think about at a given time. Recording a story tightens the meaning of a work in a restrictive manner. The real feeling in the work is primarily only in the artist’s own mind and not necessarily something the purchasers of the painting, whether galleries or collectors, should need or want to know. As meaning probably only occurs subconsciously during the making process, expanding on it for others would seem, to Tiwi, somewhat irrelevant.”

TIWI CREATION | COOEE ART

Flowing arcs of dot-mark lines portray the world in patterns and rhythms on every canvas. The sun’s glare, the moon’s glow, the black of night, all depicted in ochre, the country’s own pigment lifted from the earth. Such is the art of the Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin — the longest-known and most thoroughly recorded Indigenous creative tradition in Australia.

Alison Puruntatameri | Pwoja Jilamara | 2022 natural earth pigments on canvas | 120 x 80 cm | #19780

TIWI CREATION | COOEE ART

Alison Puruntatameri | Pwoja Jilamara | 2022 natural earth pigments on canvas | 120 x 80 cm | #19781

Paulina Puruntatameri | Pwonga | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 90 x 70 cm | #19782

Paulina Puruntatameri | Winga (Tidal Movement / Waves) | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 120 x 180 cm | #19783

TIWI CREATION | COOEE ART

detail

Jacqueline Puruntatameri | Kulama Design | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 100 x 100 cm | #19795

Munupi Arts Guy Allain

Munupi Arts & Crafts Association is located along Melville Islands Nor th-Western coastline at Pirlangimpi (also known as Garden Point). It is the most recently formed ar t centre on the Tiwi Islands. The Munupi ar tists, inspired by their natural lush environment and the Tiwi creation stories, are renowned for their striking approaches to colour and design. Frequently referred to as “Jilamara” (design), their ar tworks are created using traditional ear th ochres, mixed to create a wide range of colours. Often using the traditional Tiwi Comb “Pwoja’ and drawing from their rich traditions, these artists press their ochres onto the surfaces of the canvas, each with their own personal interpretative visual language Translating the

Tiwi “Jilamara” associated with their remarkable cosmology. Bridging the old and the new, these artists reveal through their works the continuity of a fascinating culture, a vibrant offering of emotions, and feelings that resonate with the rhythms of the Tiwi islands: the breaking of the waves on the coastlines, the streaks of glittering light on the Arafura Sea, the rising and setting of the sun, the moon, and the stars, together with their ancient deep spiritual tradition.

TIWI CREATION | COOEE ART

Manager Munupi Arts

Declan Apuatimi | Kumarrakini (Dry Season) | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 176 x 236 cm | #19778

Susan Wanji Waani | Kulama Design | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 120 x 80 cm | #19797

TIWI CREATION | COOEE ART

Lidwina Puruntatameri | Kulama and Muranga natural earth pigments on canvas | 120 x 80 cm | #19788

Carol Puruntatameri | Kulama Designs | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 150 x 80 cm | #19779

Osmond Pangiraminni | Pupuni Jilamara | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 120 x 80 cm | #19796

TIWI CREATION | COOEE ART

Shirley Puruntatameri | Pupuni Jilamara | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 120 x 80 cm | #19789

Declan Apuatimi | Kumarrakini (Dry Season) | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 100 x 100 cm | #19777

Marie Simplicia Tipuamantumirri | Pupuni Jilamara | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 120 x 40 cm | #19794

TIWI CREATION | COOEE ART

Simplicia Tipungwuti | Mundungkala | 2022 natural earth pigments on canvas | 184 x 200 cm | #19800

Leon Russell Black | Bush Holiday Dreaming | 2022 natural earth pigments on canvas | 180 x 120 cm | #19799

“I came to the art centre and watched my uncle painting. I didn’t know how to paint. I started painting and painting and I am here today and I know how to paint...”

TIWI CREATION | COOEE ART

- C AROL PURUNTATAMERI

Thecla Bernadette Puruntatameri | Pwoja Jilamara | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 90 x 60 cm | #19784

Paulina Puruntatameri | Minga (Body Scarification Design) | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 90 x 70 cm | #19786

Lidwina Puruntatameri | Kulama Design | 2021 natural earth pigments on Belgian linen | 210 x 40 cm | #19787

TIWI CREATION | COOEE ART

Christine Puruntatameri | Pwonga | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 90 x 70 cm | #19785

Virginia Galarla | Pupuni Jilamara | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 70 x 90 cm | #19793

Virginia Galarla | Pinyama | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 70 x 90 cm | #19790

Virginia Galarla | Pupuni Jilamara | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 70 x 90 cm | #19792

Virginia Galarla | Oyster | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 50 x 80 cm | #19791

Simplicia Tipungwuti | Pupuni Jilamara | 2021 natural earth pigments on paper | 51 x 71 cm | #19798

Shirley Puruntatameri | Pupuni Jilamara | 2021 synthetic polymer paint on paper | 51 x 71 cm | #19775

TIWI CREATION | COOEE ART

Simplicia Tipungwuti | Pupuni Jilamara | 2021 natural earth pigments on paper | 51 x 71 cm | #19776

Artist Biographies Supplied by Munupi Arts

CAROL PURUNTATAMERI

CHRISTINE PURUNTATAMERI

Alison grew up in Pirlangimpi on Melville Island. After finishing school, she worked in child care. She has one daughter, Anette Orsto (known locally as Sugar Plum), who is a great favourite at the art centre studio where Alison paints with her mother Paulina (Jedda) Puruntatameri, her partner, James Orsto, and the other artists. It was Alison’s grandfather, Justin Puruntatameri (deceased), a senior law man, who told Alison she should have a go at painting. He knew all the old songs and remembered visits by the Maccassans to the Tiwi Islands when he was a boy. Alison would listen to his stories of his paintings at the art centre and on country. He used to take the family hunting when she was little. He would also take them out bush bashing in his 2 door Toyota ute called Black Nose. He used to teach them how to cook wallabies, mussels, lots of foods all together under the ground wrapped in paperbark. Alison started painting at Munupi Arts in late 2011. She was a finalist in the Museum of Contemporary Art’s 2014 Primavera Art Award.

Carol Puruntatameri was born in 1959 on Wurrumiyanga (Bathurst Island). When Carol was 10 years old, the family moved to Pirlangimpi, Melville Island, her fathers country. ‘When old man, my father’s brother Justine Puruntatameri did painting he brought all us children and grandchildren to the Munupi Art Centre teaching us to carry on. I used to watch my father painting Pukumani poles and during Kuluma ceremony he was painting his body by holding the mirror. Our fathers told all us girls: ‘Go down and cut sticks from mangroves to use in the ceremony’. The sticks were put in a circle around the middle circle and the men go out and collect the Kulama (bush yam). We were all there, all my family, when our fathers were doing Kuluma ceremony. “I used to stay home gambling but one day I came to the art centre and watched my uncle painting. I didn’t know how to paint. I started painting and painting and I I am here today and I know how to paint. I used to copy what my Father did. Some of my paintings have stories. “I think we need to have a museum here at the art centre so we can teach future generations and display clap sticks because they don’t have clap sticks here. Also Tokoinga, the ball made out of bee’s wax with the white feathers put in. Only men used to make that and wear it for ceremony and the ladies had arm and head bands.This is a family treasure.”

Christine Puruntatameri was born in Darwin and grew up on Melville Island at Pirlangimpi. Christine went to Darwin for High School, first attending Kormilda College and then St. John’s College until she completed year 11. Christine then returned to Pirlangimpi. Back on Pirlangimpi she met her first partner and they had a daughter. They moved to WA in 2002 and had 2 more children. Christine moved back to Pirlangimpi with her 3 children in 2008. While her children were going to school she came to the Art Centre whenever she could. Christine has worked at the Pirlangimpi store since 2017 and when she has the time she comes to the Art Centre to paint. She loves to paint and uses a pwoja (comb) to apply ochres to canvases.

TIWI CREATION | COOEE ART

ALISON PURUNTATAMERI

DECLAN APUATIMI

JACQUELINE PURUNTATAMERI

LEON RUSSELL BLACK

Traditional owner of the Pirlangimpi/Imalu country on the north coast of Melville Island, Declan was born at Wurrumiyanga – Bathurst Island. Declan, son of famously well know artists Jean Baptiste Apuatimi and Declan (senior) Apuatimi and brother of reputed artist (now deceased) Maria Josette Orsto, went to school at the Xavier Catholic School, before moving back to his homeland at Pirlangimpi in 2001, where he also found his current partner, master printmaker and linocut carver, Fiona. Surrounded and imbued by the art practices of his parents and his sister and their strong cultural knowledge, Declan followed in the footstep of his parents. Declan started to carve at Munupi art and craft in 2004. After a major heart surgery, Declan decided to paint small ochre painting on Canvas in 2018. The feedback he received about these inspired him to create larger paintings. Declan now creates large and small paintings depicting rising ashes and smoke against the night sky and daytime fire images. “My father taught me how to carve and do the decorations with ochre. He was a famous carver and my mother is well known artist Jean Baptiste Apuatimi, (deceased). I started doing carving at Munupi Arts & Crafts in 2004. Before that I lived on Bathurst Island.”

I, Jacqueline Puruntatameri, was born in Darwin and grew up at Pirlingampi on Melville Island. I went to high school at Kormilda College in Darwin. I had one child a boy called Gareth who lives in Darwin with his partner. I used to work at the Pirlangimpi store for 5 years. I have been painting at Munupi Arts for a long time. I have had artworks used for calendars and I have been in many exhibitions. I love painting and I follow my grandfather who was an artist as well. His name was Black Joe. He is famous and was in the Tiwi Show in 2021 at the National Gallery of Victoria

Leon Black started school at Port Keats when he was only 4 ½ years old. Leon later moved to Darwin to go to high school at Kormilda College. When he finished year 8, he moved to his Grandfather’s country at Garden Point (Pirlangimpi), which is a small community on Melville Island. Leon watched his mother Nina (Lidwina) Puruntatameri paint. In 2017, Leon asked his mother if he could paint. Nina was taught by her father, Leon’s grandfather, Romuald Puruntatameri who was a great artist, cultural leader, and songman. “I learnt from them, looking at them painting and carving, but I only really started painting in 2017 and I really like it. I only paint with natural ochres: red, yellow and white on black background. In my paintings I can tell everything about my life in Pirlangimpi, paint all these things in the Tiwi way, in my way, my own way.”

MARIE SIMPLICIA TIPUAMANTUMIRRI

OSMOND PANGIRAMINNI

Lidwina Tepomitari Puruntatameri was taught to paint by her father, Romuald Puruntatameri. As a 14 year old, she would come home from school and work with him, painting his spears. Lidwina Puruntatameri has worked at both Nguiu Adult Education and Munupi Arts & Crafts doing bark painting, screen printing, works on linen, etchings, and linocuts. In 1993 Lidwina Puruntatameri won the Award for New Medium at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in Darwin, providing recognition for her exceptional skills in etching. In recent years Lidwina has worked mainly on canvas using ochres and her works are highly sought after. Lidwina’s father, Romuald Puruntatameri, is represented in the Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory Collection and her grandfather, Paddy Teeampi Tepomitari Puruntatameri, and her aunt, Rosina Puantulura, both carvers, are represented in the Melbourne Museum Collection. Lidwina’s work is represented in many Australian and International private and public collections.

I was born in Bathurst hospital run by the Catholic Mission and went to St Theresa School in Wurrimiyanga and then St John College in Darwin. After school i became a bi- lingual assistant teacher, literacy worker, and translator. I moved to Pirlangimpi with my husband and 3 children a long time ago. I have worked with the Art Centre for many years while teaching and doing other jobs in the Community.

I was Born at Bathurst Island in 1958 and I went to school at Garden Point Primary School on Melville Island. Then as I grew up my mum sent me away to High School in Darwin at Kormilda College. Then I dropped out of School and went back home to my family and started looking for a job. I got one as the Janitor at the primary school in 1978. In 1990 I retired and then i decided to get another job so i went to the Munupi Art Centre because i used to watch my father paint and carve the ceremonial poles. He taught me how do culture and thats how I got my skills as an artist and ceremonial leader. One of Osmond’s Tutunis (Ceremonial Poles) is in the South Australian Art Gallery Collection and one is in a private collection in Belgium. He creates intricate paintings depicting cermonial designs. He is a Senior Ceremonial Singer and Dancer.

TIWI CREATION | COOEE ART

LIDWINA PURUNTATAMERI

PAULINA PURUNTATAMERI

SIMPLICIA TIPUNGWUTI

SUSAN WANJI WANJI

Paulina Puruntatameri is a senior Cultural Leader and advisor to the Munupi Board of Directors. “I only started painting a few few years ago but I was already working at Munupi providing Tiwi language translations for stories connecting to our paintings. My interests are looking and preserving culture, language, art, and songs. One of my passions is digital archiving and repatriation of our old artefacts that have been taken from the Tiwi Islands. One day they will return to their rightful place, one day this will happen! “It’s for our future generations to learn and respect and embrace their culture, who they are and where they are from. We as the Tiwi people are the custodians of our lands. We must speak for the land and make sure we look after the land and the sea. “In my painting of the Maruti, the jikipayinga (female crocodile), she leaves her salt water and comes into the fresh water to build her nest and lay crocodile eggs. Sometimes she has to leave her nest and look for food. The Tiwi people would steal her eggs! She will come back and be very angry! “With the education system today a teacher may have 14 students in class, however, when school ends she ends up with only 7. What happened to the other 7? Maybe the system did not tend to their needs. The moral of my story is that the female crocodile was not a careless mother but had to feed herself. She did not have a baby sister like we do.”

Simplicia Tipungwuti was born in 1979 on Bathurst Island. She went to the catholic primary school. Simplicia’s mother moved to Pirlangimpi with her when she was 13 years old. She she has lived there ever since. Simplicia found her partner in Pirlangimpi and they have had 5 children. Her mother in-law, Virginia Galarla paints alongside Simplicia at the Art Centre. She is an emerging artist who prefers working on larger canvases with her intricate and unique stye.

Susan Wanji Wanji was born in 1955 in the bush at Johnsons Bay near Maningrida. Her parents wrapped her up in paperbark and took her by canoe to the mission at Maningrida. When she was around 10 years old, her dad made her a little paperbark canoe that she used to go everywhere in. As soon as school was finished she used to run down with her paddle to her canoe. She took the old people out to get cockles and crabs. She used to hunt for stingray, crabs, mangrove worm, mud mussels, fish and cockles with the old people. She used to sail around with a sheet before her dad made her a canvas sail. When Susan was out in rough weather her father used to yell out for her to come back in. This canoe from her childhood features in some of her paintings. Susan learnt from her mother how to weave intricately woven mats and baskets.1982 Susan moved with her partner to Melville Island and she worked at the health clinic in Snake Bay. Susan learnt how to make bark paintings and carvings from her Tiwi Uncle Romeo Puruntatameri. He used to talk to the young ones telling them how to make carvings and paintings. She also used to make the ceremonial poles (Tutunis). She learnt how to make the armbands and headbands from her Aunty Joberta Puruntatameri. The elders also taught her how to collect the ochres and cook them. Susan started working at Munupi Arts & Crafts in 1990 and has since developed a unique style that has

SHIRLEY PURUNTATAMERI Hi my name is Shirley I was Born on Bathurst Island. Since then I grow up older and at the age of 16 years and I went to school called s.t.s on Bathurst Island.That was back in 1985,1986 and so on, and then i finished school and found a partner. He was from Pirlangimpi.Then i went to live with him and i have 6 children. After growing up my children I then went to look for job working at the art centre called Munupi.

THECLA BERNADETTE PURUNTATAMERI

VIRGINIA GALARLA

influences from both Tiwi and Arnhem Land cultures. In 1992 Susan Wanji Wanji travelled to Paris representing Munupi Arts & Crafts and she assisted with the hanging of the Art Centre exhibition. She continues to paint and exhibit with Munupi Art Centre and she was a finalist in the 2013 Telstra Aboriginal and Torres Strait Art Award. In 2016 Susan was commissioned by the Australian War Memorial Collection Canberra to create a painting of the Bombing of Darwin to commemorate this event. Susan Wanji Wanji’s artwork is represented in many national as well as international collections.

Thecla Puruntatameri was born at Nguiu, Bathurst Island (Wurrumyianga) in 1971, and grew up on Melville Island at Garden Point (Pirlangimpi). Thecla went to primary school at Pularumpi School and to St Johns College in Darwin for high school. She completed year 10 in 1989 and then came back to Pirlangimpi and became an artist. In 2002, after completing a Certificate II in Arts and Crafts at Batchelor College, Thecla started to work as an assistant teacher at the Pirlangimpi School, until she retired from her teaching assistant position in 2017. Thecla participated in print making workshops in Canberra(1998), the Pacific Arts Festival Raratonga, Cook Islands(1992), and cultural exchanges with indigenous artists from Tasmania and Victoria. Thecla’s artworks are included in many private collections in Australia and overseas as well as in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Virginia Galarla was born in 1951 at Wurrumiyanga. Her maiden name was Pangiraminni. She went to the catholic primary and high school at Wurrumiyanga. When she turned 18 she got a job at the health centre and in 1972 she transferred to the Leproseum at East Arm in Darwin. In 1973 she got married and went to Maningrida with her husband for 1 year. In 1974 they returned to Wurrumiyanga where they had 5 children. The family moved to Pirlangimpi in 1979. After her family grew up she returned to work at the Health Centre in Pirlangimpi until she retired in 2010. When she retired, she was sitting at home making baskets, not knowing of the Art Centre until 2014, when she joined Munupi. Her paintings depicting seasons, ceremonies, bush foods, bush medicine, insects, and ceremonial objects, continue to evolve and are sought after.

TIWI CREATION | COOEE ART

SUSAN WANJI WANJI continued...

cover Jacqueline Puruntatameri | Kulama Design (detail) | 2021 natural earth pigments on canvas | 100 x 100 cm | #19795 page 2-3 Artists (L-R) | image courtesty Munupi Arts Alison Puruntatameri, Carol Puruntatameri, Christine Puruntatameri, Declan Apuatimi, Jacqueline Puruntatameri, Leon Russell Black, Lidwina Puruntatameri, Marie Simplicia Tipuamantumirri, Osmond Pangiraminni, Paulina Puruntatameri, Simplicia Tipungwuti, Shirley Puruntatameri, Susan Wanji Wanji, Thecla Bernadette Puruntatameri, Virginia Galarla

page 4 Painting with pwoja | image courtesty Munupi Arts page 5 Pwoja | image courtesty Munupi Arts page 11 Front Munupi Art Centre | image courtesty Munupi Arts page 24 Artist painting | image courtesty Munupi Arts

TIWI CREATION | COOEE ART

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