Scarf - Kutuwulumi Purawarrumpatu Kitty Kantilla, Untitled

The NGV design store has designed a range of merchandise to celebrate the diversity of mark making and colour in the Tiwi visual culture.

TIWI celebrates the unique art and culture of the Tiwi people of Melville and Bathurst Islands and explores the dynamic trajectory of Tiwi art across time and media. Tiwi art is intimately connected with song and dance and with jilamara, the idiosyncratic body painting designs with which performers celebrate kulama and conceal their identity from mapurtiti (spirits of the deceased) for pukumani ceremonies. The spirit of each work resides in the Tiwi notion of individual creativity, expressed through turtiyanginari (colour), patterns of marlipinyini (lines), kurluwukari (circles) and pwanga (dots).