Nyini parlingari purrupakuluwunyi, amintiya kiyi nyingani awarra Jilamara - Looking back,looking forward in our Art

Sep 15, 2026

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This exhibition captures the Tiwi Design Aboriginal Corporation’s “Keep Culture Strong” project and the Tiwi Design Collection it fostered, shaped through artist-run workshops on Bathurst Island and “out bush” sessions. It traces how senior male and female artists taught carving, bark-basket making, comb-work decoration, ceremonial adornments, and ochre painting across workshops, school programs, and community outreach. The show presents four interconnected parts spanning the original collection, related contemporary works, and earlier institutional material presented in a renewed Tiwi context.

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Nyini parlingari purrupakuluwunyi, amintiya kiyi nyingani awarra Jilamara

Keep Culture Strong project and workshop practice

Sources, influences, and renewal of ceremonial art

Four interconnected parts of the exhibition

# Nyini parlingari purrupakuluwunyi,amintiya kiyi nyingani awarra Jilamara Looking back,looking forward in our Art Top:Maria Josette Orsto,Kulama 2008,naturalochres on Eucalyptus tetrodonta,31x26cm[irreg.],Tiwi Design Collection AC-97 Centre:Ita Tipungwuti,Untitled 2007,naturalochres on canvas,39x29cm,Tiwi DesignCollection AC-208 Bottom:Maria Josette Orsto,Untitled 2007,natural ochres on canvas,44x33cm,TiwiDesign Collection AC-210 ## Too much information is an obstacle toseeing.My works are created to be seen.1 n 2007,Tiwi Design Aboriginal Corporation,based at Nguiuon Bathurst Island,received Special Project Funding from theAustraia Council to conducta series of artist-run workshopsthat aimed to pass on the skills,knowledge and traditionsof arts and crafts on the Tiwi lslands to the next generationof emerging artists at Tiwi Design and young people in thecommunity.Beginning in March 2007,male and female seniorartists ran several workshops in the art centre and 'out bush',dependent on seasonal factors.Young and old examinedsources and experimented with techniques of Tiwi artandcraftsmanship as they related to ceremony and contemporarylife:carving ironwood,making tunga (bark baskets)and comb-work decoration,producing woven and hand-made ceremonialadornments,and painting on bark and canvas.The 'Keep CultureStrong'project,as it was known,became a template for individualcreativity as much as a collective community endeavour.Its aimwas to reflect and draw from the past,with a view to nurturingcurrent art and preserving its future.The essence of the projectand the Tiwi Design Collection it fostered are captured in thisexhibition's title,chosen by Tiwi Design artists-Nyini parlingaripurrupakuluwunyi,amintiya kiyi nyingani awarra Jilamara:Looking back,looking forward in our Art. ### Workshop tuition included the sourcing of ironwood,mangrovewood and stringy-bark,its preparation and curing as the supportfor carved and painted sculptures,spears,fighting sticks,tungaand other objects;sourcing and preparing pandanus and otherplant fibres,collecting seeds(such as the blood red Abrusprecatorius),feathers and various natural materials for woven/hand-crafted items,as well as obtaining a range of ochres asthe principal painting/decorative media.The project proved sosuccessful that its activities extended beyond the nine monthterm of the Special Projects Grant,becoming a Tiwi DesignArt Centre-sponsored activity.By late May 2008,the TiwiDesign Collection born of this project,already documented andcatalogued by young Tiwi trainees at the art centre,extendedits teaching and creative roles to the broader community,withsenior artists running instructional workshops for Tiwi studentsfrom Murrupurtiyanuwu Catholic Primary School (MCS)and XavierCommunity Education Centre,Nguiu.The Collection and itsrelated cultural development strategy were later incorporated intothe MCS School curriculum,opening the art centre to the Nguiucommunity and beyond. Both the initial project and formation of a Tiwi Design Collectionwere driven and supported by Tiwi Design artists.nitially,illustrations and photographs reproduced in Charles P.Mountford's1958 publication The Tiwi:their Art,Myth and Ceremony werea source of inspiration for the project and its creative evolution.Historic images of facial decoration and body-painting for Kulamaand Pukumani ceremonies-a form of ceremonial disguise-prompted aesthetic experimentation.They evolved into flattened,'facial'-scale paintings on canvas by Tiwi women.Male artistsbegan carving birds and parlini(Creation Time)figures of variousdimensions,experimenting with chisels and hand tools,and theapplication of ochre pigments.The project gave the artists time:an opportunity to reflect and regenerate,to consider art as aprocess ratherthan a means of production. ### Both male and female artists also renewed their acquaintance with traditional Tiwiceremonial items at the Patakijiyali Museum at Nguiu,responding to the familia

FAQs

What was the purpose of the “Keep Culture Strong” project?

It aimed to reflect and draw from the past while nurturing current art and preserving its future through skills, knowledge, and traditions passed to emerging artists and young people.

What kinds of materials and techniques were taught during the workshops?

Workshops included sourcing and preparing ironwood, mangrovewood, and stringy-bark, making tunga and comb-work decorations, producing woven ceremonial items, and using ochres for painting and decorative work.

How is the exhibition structured?

It comprises four interconnected parts: selected works newly shown from the Tiwi Design Collection; contemporary works by Tiwi Design artists from the Charles Darwin University Art Collection; and older material culture items and carvings displayed in a renewed Tiwi context, among other related components.

Sep 15, 2026

Upload by Eliana