According to legend, the Jilamara or Tiwi body paint designs date back to the time of the spirit ancestors. They were created for the very first Pukamani ceremony, performed to mark the death of the creation being Purukupali. This ceremony was performed to ensure that the Tiwi would not die, but be reincarnated, and marked the end of the Tiwi creation period. Although ostensibly a mortuary ritual, the Pukamani is as much about regeneration and renewal, as it is about death. The Tiwi are instructed to take great care with the traditions of the Jilamara, but are also encouraged to use it to celebrate the power of creativity. In many ways, this dichotomy is the key to understanding both the power of Tiwi art and the genius of Jean Baptiste Apuatimi.
The gravitas of Tiwi art first came to widespread attention in the late 1950s, with the collection of 17 magnificent Pukamani poles by Tony Tuckson for the Art Gallery of New South Wales. In the last decade, however, it has been Jean Baptiste Apuatimi who come to the fore as one of the tradition’s finest contemporary proponents and innovators. Born around 1940 at Pirlangimpi on Melville Island, she has forged forward with an unsurpassed skill for bold gesture, texture and colour; all signs of a confident artistry that derives from a lifetime of learning, watching the Jilamara used in ceremony and in the artwork of her late husband Declan Apuatimi.
This confidence allows Jean to balance formal investigation with a profound respect for cultural continuity. At the Tiwi Design art centre on Nguiu (Bathurst Island), Jean works surrounded by younger artists: her daughter Maria Josette Orsto and relatives Ita Tipungwuti, Margaret Renee Kerinauia and Roslyn Ortso. Sitting with Jean, these young women learn not just pwanga amintiya marlipinyini (dots and lines), but also the importance of originality; the expression of personality within these designs. Anyone who has ever witnessed the diminutive power of Jean performing her Jarrangini (Buffalo) dance, knows that she has a personality with the force of nature.
But like the Jarrangini dance, Jean’s work is about balance and tension. The essence of her practice might be seen in one of her most distinctive designs; Jikapayinga. Depicted as an irregular grid of squares, Jikapayinga refers to a female crocodile. It is a design that balances unity and individuality; each square is a unique object, but the power of the design comes from their interaction – the rhythmic ebb and flow as each square relates to its neighbour in part of a larger, more important narrative. In doing so, Jikapayinga creates a visual metaphor for the role of the individual within a greater tradition. And this is, indeed the key to Jean’s paintings. Jean Baptiste Apuatimi is a true master working in an ancient mode; she is an singular artist whose work gains its power by summoning up all the spirits of her ancestors, influences and progenitors. In doing so, she creates the truly individual vision of a world-class artist.
