Pwoja
2019
- Medium
- earth pigments on Stringybark (Eucalyptus sp.)
- Measurements
- 92.0 × 33.0 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Milikapiti, Melville Island, Northern Territory
- Accession Number
- 2019.1028
- Department
- First Nations Australia
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased with funds donated by Barbara Hay, 2019
© Kaye Brown, courtesy Jilamara Arts/ Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia - Gallery location
- Gallery 2
Ground Level, NGV Australia - About this work
-
Kaye Brown is a senior Tiwi woman who began painting in 2012. Her Country is Andranangoo (Goose Creek), her skin is Takaringuwi (Scaly Mullet), and her dance is Tartuwali (Shark). Prior to joining Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association, Brown taught at the Milikapiti primary school and worked in the library. Rather than a brush, the artist paints using the kayimwagakimi, a traditional Tiwi painting ‘comb’ carved from ironwood. Her work includes themes about being on Country on the Tiwi Islands – the sun, the stars, the sky and bush tucker.
Tiwi culture places special significance on the pukumani (funeral ceremony), in which mourners are decorated with natural ochres to disguise themselves from the spirit of the deceased before coming together to perform songs and dances in their honour. The yirrinkiripwoja (body paint) for the pukumani is the source of many contemporary designs; the shortening of the word to pwoja also refers to ‘best’.