Printmaking on the Tiwi Islands

Printing Knowledge and Preserving Tradition: Printmaking on the Tiwi Islands Maija Anita Vanags December 2017 A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy at The Australian National University © Copyright by Maija Anita Vanags 2017 All Rights Reserved Declaration This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. To the best of the author’s knowledge, it contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text. Maija Anita Vanags December 2017 iii Dedication I dedicate this work to all the artists on the Tiwi Islands who make and print designs. I hope they will see this work as a tribute to their art, talent and imagination. In a world where our vision is dominated by a single cultural way and where this dominance threatens the survival of other ways of thinking and being, there is a need for an alternative way of seeing the world. The Tiwi give us an alternative view. v Acknowledgments The idea for this thesis came from an awareness of my own Latvian cultural background and how culture has been encoded into everyday items. Latvian mythology and the numerous ancient deities are represented symbolically in everyday items. These symbols are there to guard, bless and bring happiness. Likewise, Tiwi culture is encoded in the prints produced on the islands. This project also emerged from my interest in the work of Tiwi artist Bede Tungutalum. It came to my attention that there existed a large body of silk screen print designs produced in the twentieth century on the Tiwi Islands. Some of these print designs have become part of museum and gallery collections. Many are not. My research for this thesis is based in the greater part on the abundant visual material found in the literature depicting Tiwi silk screen print designs. This abundance can be attributed to the visual impact the designs have made on the wider Australian audiences when presented in the many textile exhibitions of the late twentieth century. I have been dependent on the work of others when it came to Tiwi culture and mythology, in particular Charles Mountford’s 1958 seminal work – The Tiwi, Art, Myth and Culture. Equally the work of Sandra Le Brun Holmes (1995), The Goddess and the Moon Man was invaluable in capturing knowledge about Tiwi culture that was fading fast as a result of the Tiwi move towards integrating into the wider Australian society and way of life. There are many people to thank for making this thesis possible. Primarily, I would like to thank Professor Howard Morphy for recognising the value of my research topic. I also thank Professor Morphy for his guidance in the writing of my thesis through my panel supervisors Prof. John Carty and Dr. Robyn McKenzie. However, without the help of the Tiwi people the project would not have got off the ground. In particular I would like to thank all the women at Bima Wear who helped me, especially Noella Babui. vii Research for this thesis was undertaken while I was a graduate student at both Northern Territory University and Australian National University. I am grateful to both institutions for the research funds provided. During this time my main informant was Bede Tungutalum. I would like to thank Candida Spence from ILP for helping me put this document together. This research is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship. viii Abstract My research examines silk screen printing on the Tiwi Islands and the significant role textiles play as carriers of values connecting people across time and maintaining important cultural knowledge. Silk screen printing is an introduced technique that flourished on the islands in the late twentieth century. My aim is to show how the Tiwi have retained their identity while engaging in a non-traditional form of artistic expression. I argue that the silk screen print designs produced on the islands express a relationship to the land, ancestors and cultural artefacts. Early print designs produced in the 1970s by Tiwi men at the Tiwi Design workshop depict images relating to cultural artefacts, myth and ceremony. Later designs produced by the women in the 1980s are predominantly images connected to the environment. Still later images produced in the 1990s by an older generation of artists revert back to the traditional markings using lines and dots. My thesis shows how visual markings are produced in a new context and for new uses. I explore the print designs produced by the Tiwi in the twentieth century as a type of meta-media, that is, an expressive form of thought showing a relationship to land, ancestors and culture. The designs printed by the Tiwi on fabric are a means by which the old is linked to the new and cultural identity is reinforced during a time of great change. The designs show how tradition has been transformed to meet new circumstances. ix Table of Contents Declaration ........................................................................................................................ iii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................. vii Abstract ............................................................................................................................. ix Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... xi List of Maps ..................................................................................................................... xiii List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... xv List of Plates..................................................................................................................... xvii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... xix Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 Thesis Objectives and Structure................................................................................................ 5 Methodological Approach ........................................................................................................ 7 Literature Review ...................................................................................................................... 7 Originality and Value of Research ........................................................................................... 13 Chapter 1 The Tiwi Islands - a unique Culture ................................................................... 15 The Land .................................................................................................................................. 15 Social Structure ....................................................................................................................... 17 Early History ............................................................................................................................ 17 The Tiwi and Father Gsell ........................................................................................................ 19 Creation Time .......................................................................................................................... 23 The Ceremonies ...................................................................................................................... 25 Pukumani ................................................................................................................................ 26 Kurlama ................................................................................................................................... 28 Ceremonial Regalia ................................................................................................................. 28 Chapter 2 Ethnographic Curiosities .................................................................................... 33 Historical and Disciplinary Perspectives ................................................................................. 33 Theoretical Perspective .......................................................................................................... 35 The Collections ........................................................................................................................ 38 New Discourses ....................................................................................................................... 40 Printed Fabric .......................................................................................................................... 43 Chapter 3 A History of Silk Screen Printing on the Tiwi Islands ............................................ 47 Origins in a Changing Society .................................................................................................. 47 Tiwi Design .............................................................................................................................. 47 Bima Wear............................................................................................................................... 53 xi Jilamara Arts and

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