How indigenous artists on remote Australian island keep traditions alive through art

Artist Pedro Wonaeamirri grabs a chunk of chalky ochre from a seaside cliff on a remote island off Australia’s Northern Territory. “Ochre is important for our art and also for ceremonies,” he says, holding a clump of the natural white pigment in his hands. “In a way, this cliff is my art shop where I source supplies but I don’t have to pay GST [goods and services tax].” Wonaeamirri is a member of the Jilamara Arts & Crafts Association, an indigenous arts centre in Milikapiti, a tiny village on Melville Island located roughly 110km (70 miles) – about a 30-minute flight – north of the city of Darwin. Melville Island and neighbouring Bathurst Island are collectively known as the Tiwi Islands, the home of the Tiwi people, whose culture – one rich in art, music, dance and ceremony – is shaped by a strong connection with the land. This month, Wonaeamirri is in Hong Kong for Art Basel, the city’s largest annual international arts fair, which will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from March 28 to 30. His presentation on March 30, supported by Australian gallery Station in collaboration with Jilamara Arts & Crafts, will showcase a selection of tutini poles he created with fellow Tiwi artist, Patrick Freddy Puruntatameri. It will be accompanied by a dance performance by Wonaeamirri and followed by a talk from Alexie Glass-Kantor, curator of the fair’s Encounters programme, which features large-scale projects. The presentation is a window into the unique cultural tapestry of the Tiwi Islands. As a senior cultural leader, Wonaeamirri carries a lot of responsibility for keeping Tiwi traditions alive through his narrative-rich artwork that includes the carving and painting of tutini – poles made from ironwood trees that grow in abundance on the island. Used in funeral ceremonies known as pukamani, the poles play a vital role in Tiwi culture. “The ceremonial poles are connected to the spirit of the dead and are special to my people,” he says. “When I was a boy, I use to watch my uncle collect the ochre and carve the poles.” Tiwi art, Wonaeamirri says, has its own unique style. “We have a different culture and language from mainland [Australian] Aboriginal people.” What also makes Tiwi art so special is that it is created with materials collected from around Milikapiti. Bark from the ironwood tree is used to make baskets, while pelican feathers and dried pandanus plants are woven together to create ceremonial head and arm bands. The land also provides a tasty feast, including magpie goose, wallaby and buffalo, while the sea dishes up a bounty of oysters, mud mussels, periwinkles – which are roasted on hot coals – and barramundi, a fish that thrives in the surrounding waters. But like in many indigenous communities worldwide, Wonaeamirri is concerned about loss of culture, fearing language and traditions could disappear under the march of modernisation. “It is important to keep Tiwi culture alive,” says the artist, whose work can be found in private collections and galleries around Australia. Internationally, his pieces are housed in the British Museum, the Commonwealth Institute in London and the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection in the United States, the only museum outside Australia dedicated solely to indigenous Australian art. In 2024, Wonaeamirri took the Tiwi message to Italy, where he spoke at the Venice Biennale and the Peggy Guggenheim museum. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jilamara (@jilamaraartsandcrafts) It is a humid Thursday in February and Milikapiti is moving at a casual pace matched only by the wild horses and buffalo that occasionally roam the town. Established in 1941 as a permanent Aboriginal settlement, Milikapiti – which has a population nudging 500 – has a school, health clinic, fishing lodge and general store that is stocked every Friday following a visit from a supplies barge. While the village feels sleepy, the arts centre is fully awake. Established in 1989, it is owned and operated by artists from the community and comprises the Kutuwulumi Gallery and the Muluwurri Museum, which delves deep into Tiwi culture. Representing 60 artists, the arts centre is the community’s creative heart. Nowhere does it beat louder than in the working studios, where woodcarving and screen-printing are carried out to a backdrop of whirling fans and tunes blasted from a transistor radio. Puruntatameri is deep in the zone as he dips a brush into ochre that he has heated over a naked flame to turn its yellow pigment a deep orange-red. Puruntatameri, who helped carve some of the 20 tutini poles that will be on show in Hong Kong, is painting a spear that he carved the previous day. Creativity is in his blood. The art centre’s carving workshop is named after his late father, Paddy, who handed down many artistic skills to his son, while his mother Rachel was a talented sewer and weaver. “As a kid, I spent a lot of time carving and painting while my schoolmates preferred to ride bikes or play football,” Puruntatameri says. There is also Wally Brooks, weaving bark stripped from ironwood trees with dried pandanus fronds. “I have 25 baskets to weave for an exhibition in Melbourne in September.” While storytelling is the common thread running through indigenous Australian art, the designs vary among different groups, reflecting their unique histories and spiritual beliefs. Tiwi art is distinguished by geometric patterns comprising straight and crossed lines, circles, and dots. Nothing is random, with each pattern telling a story about cultural identity. The art is complex, much like the structure of Tiwi society which is built on matrilineal descent, with family and respecting the elderly key components. On a bush walk close to the village centre, Wonaeamirri searches for trees suitable for carving. The trunks all look similar to the untrained eye, but he knows precisely which ones are “ripe”. While preserving the past is important, artists on Tiwi are embracing modern mediums such as video and audio elements. It is a way to inspire the younger generation and is much needed, Wonaeamirri says, adding that young people today are more interested in their devices than learning about their ancestors. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jilamara (@jilamaraartsandcrafts) A tradition Wonaeamirri is keen to revive is kulama, a coming-of-age initiation ceremony also known as a yam ceremony because it coincides with the harvest of the root vegetable. In the museum, he points to one of his paintings that tells the story of his own ceremony. “It was attended by elders who danced and sang for three days.” On another wall is a photo of the late Kitty Kantilla, one of Australia’s most renowned indigenous artists and a founding member of the Jilamara Arts & Crafts Association. Affectionately known as “Dot Dot” for her style of painting, Kantilla occupies a special place in Wonaeamirri’s heart. “Kitty was a fine artist who taught me a lot,” he says. “Her funeral was held on the grounds of the arts centre and I had the great honour of preparing a pole for her ceremony.” It is Friday afternoon and many of the locals have gathered at the sports and social club for dinner. Films about the Tiwis play on a loop in a room overlooking a sports oval where children kick around a football. “It is often said that some of Tiwi’s biggest exports are art and football,” says Will Heathcote, co-coordinator of the Jilamara studio. For Tiwis with dreams of playing in Australia’s top professional football league for females, AFL Women’s (AFLW), living remotely comes with a host of challenges, Heathcote says. The obstacles, he adds, were the focus of Like My Brother, a documentary released in 2024 about four young Milikapiti women on a mission to break into the AFLW. Heathcote and his partner Hannah Raisin moved to Milikapiti eight years ago to manage the arts centre and raise their children: Matilda, seven, and Huwie, four. It is easy to see how they fell under Milikapiti’s spell. When not in a classroom, children spend their days swimming in secluded waterfalls and playing on deserted beaches. “See these green ants,” says Matilda, scooping up a handful of the insects. “Their bums taste like a lime.” She is right. The protein-rich insects have a surprisingly tangy citrus flavour. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jilamara (@jilamaraartsandcrafts) Children also play on the grounds of the arts centre, an inspiring environment for budding artists who have no shortage of role models. Milikapiti might be one of Australia’s most isolated places, but its artists are making waves on the global stage. Among them is Johnathon “World Peace” Bush, who in February held an exhibition, “Walking Between Two Worlds”, at the No. 9 Cork Street gallery in London. Bush blends traditional body paint designs with religious iconography to express his views about politics and the Tiwis’ colonial experience. According to historical records, the Tiwi people have inhabited the islands for at least 40,000 years. And while Dutch explorers arrived on Melville Island in 1705, colonisation did not take place until 1911, with the arrival of German missionaries. One of the community’s more established artists is Timothy Cook, who in 2012 became the first Tiwi artist to win Australia’s prestigious National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award. While printing is the preferred medium of local artist Glen Farmer Illortaminni, it is his story of being lost in Paris for a week that has made him somewhat of a celebratory, his wild tale turned into a book, Tiwi in Paris, that is due to be published this year. As for Wonaeamirri, he is excited about seeing Hong Kong and exploring the city’s creative – and culinary – landscape. “I’m excited to see the city – and to eat some roast duck and pork.” “Conversations: Indigenous songs – Performance by Pedro Wonaeamirri”, Auditorium, N101B, Level 1, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, 1 Harbour Rd, Wan Chai, March 30, 11am-12pm.

How indigenous artists on remote Australian island keep traditions alive through art

Aboriginal artists from Australia’s Tiwi Islands, whose works will show at Hong Kong’s Art Basel, offer a window into their culture