Jilamara Arts (expired event)

Japingka Gallery proudly presents artworks based on traditional ceremonial life, dynamically interpreted by contemporary artists of Jilamara Arts on the Tiwi Islands

Pattern, or Jilamara, is a vital part of life on the Tiwi Islands, seen in the performance yirrinkiripwoja, body painting, and the Pukumani, or mortuary ceremony. In these events the Creation stories of Tiwi people are enacted and integrated into everyday life. The artistic output of the Jilamara art centre is strongly influenced by all these traditional practices and ceremonies. The patterns remain the collective cultural inheritance for all Tiwi artists, who continue to celebrate the traditions through their own unique impressions of culture.