Two men hunting for turtle
Artist
Marie Simplicia Tipuamantumirri
(1959)
Date1992
Object number00027872
NamePainting
MediumWatercolour on board
DimensionsSheet: 504 × 696 mm
Image: 432 × 614 mm
Overall: 504 × 696 × 1 mm, 0.1 kg
Display dimensions: 506 × 700 mm
Mount / Matt size (F Fini Mount): 810 × 1010 mm
Image: 432 × 614 mm
Overall: 504 × 696 × 1 mm, 0.1 kg
Display dimensions: 506 × 700 mm
Mount / Matt size (F Fini Mount): 810 × 1010 mm
Copyright© Marie Simplicia Tipuamantumirri
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionA painting by Marie Simplicia Tipuamantumirri titled 'Two Men Hunting For Turtle' ('Men go hunting to get food and bring it home to eat'.)HistoryMelville Island lies off the north coast of Australia, about l00 kilometers from Darwin.
Melville, with Bathurst Island, is home to an Indigenous group of people called the Tiwi (meaning 'we people'). As a result of the isolation of Tiwi people, their culture has developed independently from others on the mainland. This is reflected in their art which is bold, colourful and highly abstract, the Tiwi exemplify the adherence artists have to
their particular dreaming or style of cultural expression. The artwork being produced on the Island incorporates the traditional symbolic designs of the burial poles, body designs and bark bags as well as showing the bush foods found on the island.
Melville Island is the second largest Island on Australia's coast. Its coast is fringed with dense mangrove forest hosting a feast of bush foods. Although many modern ways have been adapted, life on their two islands follows traditional ways. Men still hunt for bush foods - turtles, stingrays, wild cattle and fish, while women huntpossums, and collect crabs, shell fish and berries.SignificanceThis work by Marie Simplicia Tipuamantumirri illustrates how some Tiwi art has developed into unique individual styles. It shows how some artists in the community have adapted to a European economy by producing works that are acceptable to western views of art but still maintain in the Tiwi's unique abstract style and relationship to their environment.
1994
