In association with JGM Gallery London, Saatchi Gallery is pleased to present Yoi, an exhibition of paintings by nine artists from the Munupi Arts & Crafts Association, which is located on Melville Island’s north-western coastline. The island is one of several referred to as the Tiwi Islands, home to the Aboriginal Tiwi people.
Art, along with music and dance, is a fundamental component of Tiwi culture. It holds strong social and spiritual value for the Tiwi people. Painters produce expressive marks using natural ochres, often applied with a Pwoja comb onto linen or canvas, which lend their paintings a distinctive textural materiality.
With their repeated geometry, the paintings are perhaps ostensibly asemic at first glance; but the works are in fact full of allusion. Free from a mimetic representation of reality, instead they consist of abstract reflections of the natural world. In Alison Puruntatameri’s Winga series, dashes of pigment broken up at regular intervals suggest the rhythmic motion of tidal waves.
Depictions of concentric circular motifs, as featured in Josephine Burak’s Milimika, outline the ceremonial dancing ground. Yoi, the Tiwi word for “dancing”, is an intrinsic part of ritual activity on the islands. During these dances, the participants paint their bodies with the same natural ochres and designs that appear on their canvases. In this way, the body, movement and narrative all come together into direct dialogue within the paintings. Visitors of the exhibition can expect to experience this convergence, something which is not found to the same extent in Western art.
In the words of Senior Curator of Indigenous Art at the National Gallery of Victoria, Judith Ryan (Art and Australia, 1997): “For Tiwi people, to sing is to dance is to paint”.
The exhibition is open to the public from 2 August – 21 September 2024, and is free to enter.
Exhibiting artists:
Alison Puruntatameri
Arthur John Cowell
Carol Puruntatameri
Christine Puruntatameri
Delores Tipuamantumirri
Dorothy Noni Poantimului
Josephine Burak
Lucinda Puruntatameri
Simplicia Tipungwuti
This exhibition is presented by Saatchi Gallery and JGM Gallery. We acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to the land, waters and skies, often expressed through art. We pay our respects to artists, elders and community members past, present and future.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
ABOUT SAATCHI GALLERY
Since 1985, Saatchi Gallery has provided an innovative platform for contemporary art. Exhibitions have presented works by largely unseen young artists, or by international artists whose work has been rarely or never exhibited in the UK. This approach has made the Gallery one of the most recognised names in contemporary art. Since moving to its current 70,000 square feet space in the Duke of York’s Headquarters in Chelsea, London, the Gallery has welcomed over 10 million visitors. The Gallery hosts thousands of school visits annually and has over 6 million followers on social media.
In 2019 Saatchi Gallery became a registered charity, beginning a new chapter in its history.
ABOUT JGM GALLERY
JGM Gallery works with Indigenous Australian artists and deals with artworks from Aboriginal-owned Art Centres. The Gallery commits to ethical trade in Aboriginal Art and supporting economic development in remote communities. Director, Jennifer Guerrini Maraldi, has worked with Aboriginal Art Centres for more than 20 years. JGM Gallery is also a member of the Indigenous Art Code and the Aboriginal Art Association of Australia.
The Gallery maintains direct relationships with Aboriginal Art Centres so as to provide the correct provenance and documentation relating to the work of First Nations Australians. Art Centres play an important role for Aboriginal artists, supporting the security and the wellbeing of them and their extended families. This is vital to the stability required to undertake important custodial duties.
ABOUT MUNUPI ARTS & CRAFTS ASSOCIATION
Munupi Arts & Crafts Association is located along Melville Island’s north-western coastline at Pirlangimpi (Garden Point) and is the most recently formed art centre on the Tiwi Islands. In 1990 the Yikikini Women’s Centre and Pirlangimpi Pottery were incorporated under the name Munupi Arts and Crafts Association giving local artists an opportunity to proudly celebrate Tiwi culture through both traditional and contemporary mediums.
For 25 years Munupi Arts has been a vital meeting place for the Tiwi people of the Pirlangimpi community for employment, cultural pride and wellbeing. Munupi Art is wholly indigenous owned and governed.